US/World News

Gal Gadot to produce film about Castro; won’t host Eurovision

(JTA) – Gal Gadot is set to produce and possibly star in a film about how an American journalist became one of Fidel Castro’s closest confidantes. Gadot’s husband, Yaron Versano, who is also Israeli, will co-produce the drama for Warner Bros., Deadline reported. The idea is based on a recent Politico article by Peter Kornbluh titled “My Dearest Fidel: A Journalist’s Secret Liaison With Fidel Castro.” It details how ABC journalist Lisa Howard helped establish a secret channel between Cuba and Washington after the Cuban missile crisis.

At the same time, she turned down an offer to host the Eurovision Song Contest next year in Israel. Her agency said she could not host the contest after an invitation to do so by Israel’s Kan network due to a scheduling conflict, Ynet reported. “Gal would be happy to host and take part in the Eurovision, but unfortunately, schedule constraints and previous commitments do not permit it,” her agency, the ADD Content Agency, said in a statement. Gadot was a big supporter of the winner, Netta Barlizai, calling on her tens of thousands of social media followers to vote for the Israeli singer, and posting her congratulations when the contest ended. The country of the winning song becomes the next year’s host. The sequel to Gadot’s break-out hit “Wonder Woman” is due to be released next year. Wonder Woman gets a shout-out in the winning song, “Toy.”

Several countries reportedly have already said they would boycott a Eurovision held in Jerusalem, while Irish activists have called to boycott the contest if it is held anywhere in Israel. Eurovosion in a tweet warned followers of the official Eurovision Twitter account not to book flights to Israel “just yet.” The decades-old contest has been won by Israel four times, and held in Jerusalem twice. Meanwhile, “Toy” has broken a Eurovision record by attracting the most views ever on the song competition’s YouTube channel, with over 58 million views. The video was most popular in Spain, Germany and Russia.

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