insiderblmScottish-born teenager Lilly Aspell not only plays the young Wonder Woman but also performs most of her own stunts in the new film – firing arrows from horseback and leaping into the ocean from a high board.
While Gal Gadot stars as the grown-up heroine, Lilly, who is still only 13, plays the young Diana Prince for the second time in the new film Wonder Woman 1984, which has just been released for home streaming.
Gadot is on record as saying she was impressed with young Lilly, calling her “the real deal”.
Lilly, who was born in Kilmarnock, where much of her family lives, is an accomplished horse-rider and showjumper.
Her parents were professional jockeys and her uncle won the Grand National twice.
The young star was more into horses than acting when she was spotted in London at the age of eight and asked to audition for a movie.
At the time, Lilly was not told what the film was, it just had the codename “Nightingale”.
“I had never acted in my life,” she told BBC Scotland’s The Nine.
“I was always so confident. They really liked that I could ride and was really active so I think that helped.”
Lilly appeared as the young Diana in the first Wonder Woman in 2017 and is now also in the sequel.
The film’s director Patty Jenkins wanted to use “minimal CGI” so Lilly prepared for the role with sword training, paddleboard flips and show-jumping.
She says she enjoyed every minute of the filming, including doing the stunts.
“I wasn’t really scared,” she says. “But I was like ‘Oh my god this is really quite big’.”
Lilly says that because she played the same character as Gal Gadot, they didn’t hang out on set as they often shot their scenes on different days.
But she did spend time with the Hollywood star on days off, such as when they took a boat around Tenerife, where they were filming.
“We were really close,” Lilly says.
“She is born for the role. She’s amazing at it.”
Away from the film set, Lilly says she tries to get back to Kilmarnock when ever she can to visit her grandfather and her mother Donna’s side of the family.
“We wanted to go for Christmas but unfortunately Covid stopped that,” she says.
“I do get up there as much as I can because I love spending time with my family,” she says. “My papa likes to go ‘she is Wonder woman’. He’s so proud.”
Lilly says that when she’s at home, in the south-east of England, she gets up early every morning with her ponies so her visits to Ayrshire are a chance to “chill and relax”.
“People when they go to Hawaii, I go to Kilmarnock,” she jokes.
Lilly says she wants to continue acting and has already got films lined up as well as equestrian competitions with her ponies.
If she could choose one film role, it would be would be a remake of National Velvet, the story of a 12-year-old, horse-crazy girl who wins a spirited gelding in a raffle and decides to train him for the Grand National.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” she says.
