Recently, Deadline announced that actress Gal Gadot would be re-teaming with her Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins on a new film. The duo will be starring and directing the historical epic story of Cleopatra. Paramount Pictures won the auction on the film from the other major studios. Charles Roven (Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman) will help produce the project through his Atlas Entertainment. Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos has requested the film to be put into production as quickly as possible.
Cleopatra is the daughter of Ptolemy, ancestor of the leader of Alexander the Great’s army. When Rome’s ruler Julius Caesar’s mentor-turned-rival Pompey fled to Egypt after a brutal war for control of the empire, Egypt became a fixation of Roman rulers. Two siblings battled for the throne of Egypt. After winning that internal struggle by appealing personally to Caesar, Cleopatra had a complicated relationship with Rome, becoming Caesar’s lover and later Marc Antony. The latter alliance would become the undoing of both Antony and Cleopatra.
The casting has sparked a bit of controversy that Cleopatra should be played by a native Egyptian actress instead of Gadot, who is of Israeli decent.
Cleopatra has no set release date