Wonder Woman Gal Gadot is branching out into historical roles. The Israeli actress is going to portray Cleopatra in a new film.
Cleopatra is the role that made a screen legend out of Elizabeth Taylor. While the 1963 film “Cleopatra” was panned by the critics, it was a worldwide hit and the breakout film for both Taylor and her future husband Richard Burton.
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Gadot tweeted, “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!!.”
Gal Gadot is already the most famous and successful Israeli actress in history. Natalie Portman may be an Oscar winner, but while she was born in Israel that actress grew up in America.
The new movie, also to be called “Cleopatra,” will reunite Gal Gadot with her Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. It will be produced by Gadot’s Pilot Wave Motion Pictures and by Atlas Entertainment.
Cleopatra was the Queen of Egypt at the time when Julius Caser won out over Pompeii in a small civil war for control of Rome. She is credited with having brought down both Julius Caesar and his number two man Mark Anthony.
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As you might have heard I teamed up with @PattyJenks and @LKalogridis to bring the story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, to the big screen in a way she’s never been seen before. To tell her story for the first time through women’s eyes, both behind and in front of the camera. pic.twitter.com/k5eyTIfzjB
— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) October 12, 2020
First she had an affair with the already married Caesar. She even bore him a child. But Rome did not recognize polygamy and the affair helped add to the growing resentment of Julius Caesar which led to his assassination.
In the case of Mark Anthony, after Caesar’s death he became the Roman ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra seduced him too, which led to his vying for control of the entire Roman Empire. In the end he was defeated and both committed suicide.
Their story was immortalized in the Shakespeare play Anthony and Cleopatra.
But of course there are those who already condemn this as yet another example of cultural appropriation, whatever that means.
Arabs say that it is wrong for an Israeli to play the Egyptian queen and want to know why they could not cast an Egyptian actress.
People who actually know history counter that modern Egypt has no connection to ancient Egypt. Its people do not trace their ancestries to the ancient Egyptians, its language and culture are Arab and not Egyptian and Cleopatra was actually Greek herself, the descendant of the Greeks who occupied Egypt and ruled the country from the time of Alexander the Great.
