Gal Gadot is all set to portray the ancient Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in an upcoming movie. While her ‘Wonder Woman’ director Patty Jenkins was initially helming the project, she later withdrew but is still on as a producer. Although the project was announced back in 2020, there has not been any headway yet, perhaps due to the controversy surrounding Gadot’s casting in the role. It has been more than two millennia since she died, and yet Cleopatra’s race remains a raging topic of discussion. Some say she was white Caucasian, others argue she was Black African, and so on. The scholars do not agree on one thing as there is no definitive evidence, only clues.
While speaking to Vogue Hong Kong, Gadot expressed her excitement about the film and explained the decision to cast herself, instead of an Egyptian. She said, “Israel borders Egypt, and I grew up with so many stories about Cleopatra, and she’s like a household name. You know, if Wonder Woman is the imaginary strong female leader, Cleopatra’s actually the real one. That’s a perfect example of a story that I wanted to tell because I started reading different books about Cleopatra, and I said, Wow, that’s fascinating. All I ever saw in regards to Cleopatra from film, was that she was this seductive woman who had an affair with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. But the truth is, there’s so much more to her. This woman was so ahead of her time. Egypt and what Egypt was back then, was still futuristic to where we are today. I can’t say much.”
She added, “But to me, I’m so passionate to tell her story and to bring justice to this character, and her legacy and celebrate her and her legacy. We have a beautiful script, and I cannot wait to share this story with the world and change the narrative of Cleopatra simply being a seductor.”
Cleopatra was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 69 BCE. It was a time after the Pharaohs and the Ptolemaic Kingdom, a Greek dynasty, ruled the nation. During this time, Egypt, due to its long history and location, was a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, and people from all over the world travelled there for trade and commerce. It was a time when it wasn’t uncommon to see people of different skin colours and facial features. (Agencies)
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