DUBAI: Israeli actress Gal Gadot will reunite with “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins in a new historical drama based on the life of the legendary queen of Egypt, Cleopatra.
Gadot, who gained prominence for her role as Wonder Woman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will star as the Egyptian queen herself in Paramount Film’s forthcoming production.
“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,” wrote the actress on Twitter on Sunday. “To tell her story for the first time through women's eyes, both behind and in front of the camera.”
She continued, “We are especially thrilled to be announcing this on #InternationalDayoftheGirl. We hope women and girls all around the world, who aspire to tell stories will never give up on their dreams and will make their voices heard, by and for other women.”
The news of the casting proved to be divisive on social media, with some users expressing their discontent with an Israeli actress playing the role of the legendary Egyptian queen who was of Greek and Macedonian descent.
The casting of Gal Gadot is just another stroke in the long history of white-washing and the legacy of colonial Egyptology that strives to sever all connections between Egyptians (widely defined) and the history of their land.
— آلاء مراد (@zarqawiyyah) October 11, 2020
“The casting of Gal Gadot is just another stroke in the long history of white-washing and the legacy of colonial Egyptology that strives to sever all connections between Egyptians (widely defined) and the history of their land,” wrote one Twitter user.
Meanwhile, others on social media believe that Gadot’s casting is appropriate.
“I’m going to say this once and I'm not going to say it again, Cleopatra was Greek,” wrote one user on Twitter. “Yes, she was an Egyptian ruler but she was Greek with Persian and Syrian ancestry. The people who are reacting negatively to this are uneducated and uninformed. Gal Gadot deserves this role.”
The Egyptian queen was famously portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor in director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 epic, “Cleopatra.”
