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Gal Gadot’s production company, Pilot Wave Motion Pictures, is developing a film adaptation of the middle-grade novel Don’t Feed the Lion, the authors announced. Fox Entertainment Studios and Moriah Media have optioned the 2025 book, with Gadot and her husband Jaron Varsano attached as executive producers and Gadot potentially taking a role on screen.
What the story covers
Published by Arcadia Children’s Books, Don’t Feed the Lion centers on 13-year-old Theo Kaplan, his sister Annie and their friend Gabe. The plot follows the trio after a soccer idol posts an antisemitic message that goes viral, and the fallout as prejudice reaches their Chicago middle school.
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The novel examines cultural identity, moral courage and the pressures young people face when hate spreads among peers. The authors wrote the book in response to their own children’s questions about rising antisemitism and the scarcity of middle-grade fiction on the topic.
Producers, partners and creative intent
Fox Entertainment Studios and Moriah Media are developing and producing the adaptation. Pilot Wave Motion Pictures — founded by Gadot and Varsano — will executive produce the project. Fox and Moriah previously collaborated with Israel’s Yes TV on the scripted anthology One Day in October for HBO Max.
“This is a story that feels especially personal to us, both as parents and as a family,” Gadot and Varsano said in a joint statement. “We want our children to grow up in a world where differences are respected, where hatred is challenged and where no one feels alone in standing up for what is right. Don’t Feed the Lion opens the door to conversations that matter, and we are grateful to be part of bringing it to life.”
Industry responses
Fernando Szew, President and Head of Studio at FOX Entertainment Studios, praised the book’s approach to difficult material. “Don’t Feed the Lion brings a difficult subject into focus through characters young audiences can see themselves in and choices they recognize from their own lives,” he said. “Bianna and Yonit have written a powerful, deeply human story, and Gal and Jaron bring tremendous creative vision and passion to the project.”
Jim Berk, CEO of Moriah Media, highlighted the novel’s capacity to connect with younger readers. “Stories can reach young people in ways that arguments and headlines often can’t,” he said. “Bianna and Yonit have put readers inside the everyday choices that determine whether hate spreads or someone stands up to it.”
The authors and Pilot Wave’s credits
The book’s co-authors are Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi. Golodryga is an Emmy-winning journalist and former CNN anchor and Senior Global Affairs Analyst. Levi has anchored Israel’s top-rated primetime news program on Channel 12 for more than two decades and co-hosts the podcast Unholy: Two Jews on the News.
Pilot Wave’s credits include the Netflix action film Heart of Stone and National Geographic’s documentary series Impact with Gal Gadot, which profiles women making change in their communities.
Timing and context
The adaptation announcement coincides with Golodryga’s recognition by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. She is set to receive the center’s Jewish Heritage Award at its 2026 Humanitarian Award Dinner in Los Angeles. At the same event, Gadot is scheduled to join Skydance executives in presenting Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz with the dinner’s Humanitarian Award.
