Noa Kirel, the pop star – and IDF soldier – who is one of the biggest names in the Israeli entertainment industry, revealed some details Friday about a Hollywood movie in the works based on her life, in which she will star.
Interviewed on Ofira & Berkovic, the popular talk show on the Keshet network hosted by Ofira Asayag and Eyal Berkovic, the 20-year-old singer said that this Hollywood movie – the deal for which was announced in March – “is in the making.”
American producer Eric Feig is producing the film, she said, for his company Picturestart. Feig is a top Hollywood name who produced the five hugely successful Step Up teen dance movies. He also worked on the Hunger Games franchise and is credited with buying the movie rights to the Twilight vampire series even before the books became bestsellers.
Kirel said she would “kind of” play herself in the movie.
“I came up with the idea for the movie with my team in the US.”
Her Hebrew music has a huge following and her most recent song, “Trilili Tralala,” a comic duet with comedian Ilan Peled, who performs in drag, was viewed over five million times on YouTube in the six days since it was released last week.
She has been balancing her career with her military service in an IDF entertainment troupe for over a year, and told Asayag and Berkovic that she dreams of playing Madison Square Garden and having her songs on the Billboard charts.
This dream may well be within her grasp, since Kirel signed a contract with US-based Atlantic Records in 2020 that is one of the largest ever offered to an Israeli artist. And, as of last December, she became one of the artists managed by WME, one of the top talent agencies in America. The CEO of WME (also known as Endeavor), is Ari Emanuel, whose Jerusalem-born father fought in the War of Independence.
And, in perhaps the truest measure of a real celebrity, she is the focus of gossip and controversy. Asayag grilled her about her relationship with her boyfriend, singer Yehonatan “Jonathan” Mergi, amid rumors that they broke up, but Kirel said their relationship is still strong. In May, Kirel’s duet with Omer Adam on a pop remix of “HaTikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, drew protests from purists who felt it was disrespectful. But Kirel told the hosts that, “There is research that through this, young people are learning the national anthem and singing it after school.”
She did not regret collaborating on the song, she said, “because I think everything that happens is for the best and for a reason.”