Mid-day Exclusive | Gal Gadot: I was a big fan of Alia Bhatt, watched her in RRR

Gal Gadot (L) gushed over her Heart of Stone co-star Alia Bhatt at the Netflix Tudum event

At the Netflix Tudum 2023 event in Sao Paolo, Brazil, the cast of Heart of Stone - Gal Gadot, Alia Bhatt and Jamie Dornan - were among the main attractions. The action-packed first trailer for the international espionage thriller, which was launched at the event, gave a sneak peek into Gadot's Rachel Stone, an intelligence operative for a global peacekeeping agency.

Another person we Indians were really excited to see in the trailer was of course Alia Bhatt, who is making her Hollywood debut with the film. And it turns out, Gadot herself has been an admirer of Alia ever since she watched the SS Rajamouli film, RRR.

She told Mid-day's Mayank Shekhar on the Tudum red carpet, "I was a big fan of Alia from before. I have seen RRR. We were looking for someone who's fresh and has the ability to portray layered characters and could look beautiful, and Alia was the perfect choice."

All those things that Gadot said describe her as well, she is Wonder Woman after all. Talking about expectations from Heart of Stone, she said, "The film is a lot of fun, I think it has all the right ingredients. Humour, huge set pieces, drama, great characters, and it is all wrapped up in over 5 different locations across the world. A lot of fun I hope, I have a feeling they are going to like it."

Directed by Tom Harper from a script by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder, the intense footage also features major action set pieces including a motorcycle chase through the Alps and cars speeding through the streets of Lisbon.

Alia is seen playing a negative role in the film, going up against Gadot's Rachel Stone. Talking about her own expectations from the film, Alia told Mid-day at Tudum, "I have seen the trailer and the film as well. I love it. It's exactly the way I imagined it, in fact, better. Our director Tom Harper has done a fabulous job. I don't want to say too much about my own film, but I want people to see the trailer and talk about it."

Heart of Stone is set to premiere on August 11 on Netflix. It is directed by Tom Harper from a script penned by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder.