Get ready for Gal Gadot to do her thing once again on the big screen!
The Wonder Woman actress will be a part of some very familiar company in an upcoming role; she was just cast as the lead in a new Cleopatra period biopic that will be helmed by her old director in Wonder Woman. And, the whole thing is being written by a woman, too — talk about a serious opportunity for some well-deserved, well-written female empowerment!
Related: Gal Gadot Gathered Celcbs To Sing During Quarantine… And Got ROASTED For It!
According to Deadline, who first reported the big movie news on Sunday morning, Paramount Pictures won a major auction for the epic movie production. Starring Gadot, who is now officially attached even this early, the film will be directed by Patty Jenkins, who led the way for the superstar actress during their time together on Wonder Woman. The woman adapting the screenplay and writing the biopic will be Laeta Kalogridis. Love it!
Gadot herself closed the deal yesterday, according to the outlet. The film was reportedly her idea — obviously, there have been several Cleopatra films made in the past — and she “took part in a select number of Zoom pitches” in order to discuss the possibility of seeing it to fruition with a bunch of major movie studios. Inspired and driven!!!
The actress confirmed the big news with her own tweet about the matter on Sunday morning, too. In it, she opted to quote-tweet the Deadline report and share her own little message about the project for her fans:
I love embarking on new journeys,I love the excitement of new projects, the thrill of bringing new stories to life.Cleopatra is a story I wanted to tell for a very long time.Can’t be more grateful about this A team!! @PattyJenks @ParamountPics #AtlasEntertainment #LaetaKalogridis https://t.co/qLH7vfCaUo
— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) October 11, 2020
Nice!!!
Of course, the Queen of the Nile has been portrayed before, as we noted — perhaps most memorably by Elizabeth Taylor alongside Richard Burton (inset, above) — in an infamous 1963 version of the story that also very nearly bankrupted its studio at the time. Now, it’ll be Gadot’s turn to put her own little spin on the true-to-life character, and come away with whatever interesting interpretation she can create alongside the crack team of writers, producers, and filmmakers. Should be interesting!
Related: Gal Gadot Seriously Stunned In ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Work! Look!
As to be expected, Twitter weighed in on the movie, and on Gadot’s involvement, and had mixed reactions about the entire thing.
Gadot’s name and the movie project both trended on the social network on Sunday morning, with lots of chatter from all angles (below):
“I’m going to say this once and I’m not going to say it again, Cleopatra was Greek. Yes, she was in Egyptian ruler but she was Greek with Persian and Syrian ancestry. The people who are reacting negatively that to this are uneducated and uninformed. Gal Gadot deserves this role.”
“Cleopatra wasn’t black everyone. You think of Egypt and think ‘black people’ which is true but at this point in history they’d been invaded by Greeks, then Arabs. She was Macedonian / Greek, only Egyptian by birth.most likely did look like this.”
“White people keep casting white people to play Cleopatra and Ancient Egyptians, but cry when someone cast a black person in a fantasy tv show or movie, make it make it sense. Also nice to see we still can’t count on white women to cast women of color.”
“I don’t care if cleopatra was Greek but picking a boring untalented white zionist woman to play her..???”
“*heavy sigh* I feel the fight that’s about to happen coming on and I am already ready to scream. Cuz some folks are gonna be like: but Cleopatra was Black this is whitewashing! Others will be like: Cleo was Greek, so shut up! And both camps will be both right and wrong.”
“a cleopatra movie could be a huge step forward for big nose representation but hollywood just won’t allow it”
“How you gonna cast Gal Gadot to play Cleopatra when Lupita is RIGHT THERE?!?”
“I get why Cleopatra VII is very popular but what about Nefertiti and Hatshepsut? The Ptolemaic dynasty is a fascinating period in ancient Egyptian history but it sure ain’t the only one.”
“Sorry, but this is cultural appropriation. Cleopatra should be portrayed by a Macedonian Greek actress. I didn’t make the rules.”
Hmmm…
Where do U stand on all this, Perezcious readers? Agree with Twitter?? Excited about seeing what this could become?!
Sound OFF with your take on everything here, down in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via WENN/Avalon]
