According to many sources, stars like Angelina Jolie, Gal Gadot or the director of ‘Wonder Women’ and ‘Sand Planet’ have all had or want to make a work following the life of Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
According to Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland, he was hired to write the script for a romantic horror epic about politics and intrigue surrounding the image of Cleopatra. At that stage, Sony Pictures invited director David Fincher and Ang Lee to direct and Angelina Jolie was the female star targeted for this role.
However, it never became a reality. Helgeland recently said in an interview with Inverse: “The film I wrote is a horror work, revolving around the love affair and ‘bets’ of Cleopatra, Caesar and Marc Antony. The script is close to seemed to have been completed, but in the end it was shelved.”
He also shared his favorite scenes, like the scene on the day Caesar was assassinated, Cleopatra was in Rome at that time. According to Helgeland, Caesar was killed that day because he was preparing to return to Egypt with the queen. And he may not have known about these schemes, but Cleopatra had guessed it a long time ago.
This new revelation shows that Hollywood has long wanted to develop a new version compared to the classic work released in 1963 starring female star Elizabeth Taylor. It was an epic work with a huge budget, so much so that at one point, 20th Century Fox almost went bankrupt.
More than 10 years ago, in May 2011, Angelina Jolie herself told The Telegraph that she hoped her film Cleopatra would accurately portray this historical icon. She shared: “She was misunderstood in many ways. I used to think she was only beautiful, but when I researched and dug deeper, I knew she was also smart, a strong mother and a a brave leader”.
She also expressed: “My incarnation will never be as lovely as Elizabeth Taylor’s. We are trying to find a different truth about her as a historical pharaoh, not as a symbol.” sexual idol, because she really isn’t.”
However, apart from the documentary produced by Netflix in 2023 that caused controversy about the queen’s skin color, to date, no work is actually being invested in. A few years ago, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins wanted to develop such a project, and the person targeted for the role of Cleopatra was Gal Gadot.
Gadot said: “We will show the audience not only how sexy and attractive this queen is, but also how smart and strategic she is. I have watched all the movies about throughout the history of cinema, but I feel like we’re the only ones telling the story that the world needs to hear now.”
In addition to Jenkins, Sand Planet filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has long expressed his intention to make his own Cleopatra movie. This project is quite promising when earlier this year, many sources said that the screenwriter of the film 1917 – Krysty Wilson-Cairns – was writing the script for Villeneuve, and the person being targeted for this role was Zendaya.
It’s not yet known exactly when Villeneuve might begin production on his own Cleopatra film. The filmmaker has several high-profile projects in development, including a third Sand Planet film.
With projects being launched, when asked about his own opinion, Helgeland said: “I have nothing to do with these new versions, unless they call and want to use my script.” . If so, I will be very happy.”
