Every streaming service regularly releases exciting new projects, and those with an Amazon Prime subscription are about to be treated to The Runner. Directed by Godzilla X Kong filmmaker Adam Wingard, the thriller follows Gal Gadot's Maia, a lawyer who must run though London (literally) at the behest of a mysterious caller who kidnapped her son. The Wonder Woman alum had to do a ton of cardio as a result, and told me show she channeled Tom Cruise for the role.
Tom Cruise is known for running on camera, thanks to roles in projects like Mission: Impossible franchise. I couldn't help but think of him when watching The Runner, which saw Gadot running around London for the majority of its runtime. As you can see in the vide above, I asked the actress about the physical toll of filming the new movie, and she told me:
It's the most physical role I've ever done in my entire life. I don't even know how much I ran, but it's literally running an entire movie and having to play an act while doing it. It was very intense. I was prepping for nine months with an incredible trainer who's an Olympic trainer. And Malachi [Davis] told me how to run and how to do it the right way. But again, you come to set. None of us ever shot anything like this. You need to figure out how are we gonna film it. We weren't able to lock the entire of London, so how do you do it while being exposed? It was a whole thing.
Having seen the movie in advance, this definitely tracks. But considering how Gal Gadot has filmed physically grueling roles like her tenure as Wonder Woman in the DCEU (streaming with a HBO Max subscription), the fact that The Runner was so much worse shows just how intense the shoot was. The 41 year-old actress worked with an Olympic trainer to get into shape, which allowed her to run pretty much every day, often talking on the phone at the same time. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
As you can see in the above video, I joked with Gadot and asked her if she was prepared to dethrone Cruise as Hollywood's best runner. She laughed it off, and responded with:
No, no. Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise, but whenever I was too tired, I was like channeling Tom Cruise energy towards me. If Tom does it I can try and do it myself.
Gal Gadot is putting the proper respect on Tom Cruise's name, but maybe we can name her as the second best runner in Hollywood? She surely deserves it after running through the streets of London for months while shooting The Runner. We'll just have to see how audiences response to the movie as it arrives on Amazon.
The Runner is streaming September 2nd as part of the 2026 movie release list. I was exhausted simply watching the thriller movie, so I can't imagine how intense it was for Gadot.
