Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Karen Gillan Will Star In Israeli Female Assassins’ Movie

Israeli directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado have realized something many of us have long felt deep in our hearts, yet never found the words to express: People want to see beautiful women murdering evil men and then drinking milkshakes.

That is, we assume, roughly the plot of “Gunpowder Milkshake,” a film scripted by Israeli writer Ehud Lavski that has signed film star Karen Gillan, The Hollywood Reporter writes. All we know is that the movie will follow an all-female group of assassins that spans generations, led by the very very funny and horrifyingly pretty Karen Gillan.

Keshales and Papushado are the directorial team behind the Israeli thriller “Big Bad Wolves,” a hit at Tribeca in 2013. Quentin Tarantino, who knows a thing or two, called it the best movie of the year. Not bad, for a movie made in a country the size of a baby’s sneaker.

And tapping Gillan is a coup for the action-adventure thriller, which will be made by Studiocanal and The Picture Company. The 31-year-old Scottish actress has been on the rise; she’s a key player in the Marvel Universe and co-starred in the “Jumanji” remake.

“Gunpowder Milkshake,” due in 2020, is said to be a more female-focused “Kill Bill.” But Keshales, Papushado, Lavski, and the powers over at Studiocanal should beware: Smacking a female lead on a project made by men and calling it a women’s empowerment movie just won’t do. Will any other women be involved in crafting this ostensibly women-focused project? Will any scenes pass the Bechdel Test? Will the movie address the fact that women who look like Karen Gillan actually do not drink milkshakes?

If they don’t get a few more female creatives onto this awesome project, it won’t be a “Gunpowder Milkshake,” it will be a “Gunpowder Mistake.” Zing! Let’s see you make it happen, boys.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.