Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins are ready to kick some asp.
The star and director, whose Wonder Woman did gangbusters three years ago and whose follow-up, Wonder Woman 1984, has seen a delayed release due to the coronavirus pandemic, have announced their next project. And it couldn’t be a better fit.
With Laeta Kalogridis scripting, Paramount has outbid the competition to release a new Cleopatra, according to Deadline. Their report says the project originated with Gadot herself, and notes there is an “accelerated timetable” to get the picture made.
A new big budget Cleopatra has been rumored for years, with recent chatter of both Angelina Jolie and Lady Gaga both angling for the part.
Elizabeth Taylor’s 1963 portrayal of the Queen of the Nile represents an apogee for a certain kind of Hollywood filmmaking. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, co-starring Richard Burton and Rex Harrison, clocking in at over four hours, and costing a record-breaking, near studio-busting $31 million (that’s $263 million in today’s money, according to UsInflationCalculator.com), the film won four Oscars and was nominated for nine. If you’ve never seen it, you absolutely must; it’s unbelievable.
The 1934 version directed by Cecil B. DeMille starring Claudette Colbert isn’t too shabby, either.
Only time will tell if Gal Gadot will get rolled up into a rug in this new one.
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