In April 2024, there was a misunderstanding of information here at MiscelAna when the status of the film Cleopatra, which would star Angelina Jolie and be produced by Amy Pascal, was reported as “scrapped”. In fact, the project is moving forward, but the one who will play the Queen of Egypt will no longer be the 49-year-old actress, but Zendaya, 28.

The changes were confusing because the project with Angelina, which had been in development since 2012, was also part of the Sony email leak scandal – which led to Pascal’s dismissal at the time – and where producer Scott Rudin spoke badly of the actress, furious about the delay in starting the project because Angelina was studying films by potential directors.

“Kill me, please. Immediately,” he said in an email to Pascal in June 2014. “I will not destroy my career for some minimally talented spoiled brat who thought nothing of putting her mind off things for eighteen months so she could direct a movie. I have no desire to make a movie with her, or anyone else she manages that we don’t.” he wrote at the time.

Amy Pascal left Sony but managed to keep both Cleopatra and Angelina on board. Their (ultra-public) reunion in 2015 was all over the news and seemed destined to be a source of curiosity behind the scenes. However, in 2016, Angelina and Brad Pitt had a falling out and since then she has worked as a director and actress, but without any success. Her Oscar chance for Pablo Larraín‘s Maria has yet to be confirmed, but the Queen of Egypt has been left off her agenda.

When Denis Villeneuve announced in November 2023 that he would embark on the story of Cleopatra as soon as he finished Dune, it seemed like it would be a third film about the Queen of Egypt, but no, it was the same one with a script by Brian Helgeland and production by Amy Pascal. In other words, the only one who dropped out of the running was Angelina Jolie.

The Canadian director chose his muse immediately, and there are rumors that he wanted Timothée Chalamet as Octavius ​​and Daniel Craig as Julius Caesar, but we don’t know who Mark Antony would be and neither actor has confirmed anything because all the discussions were still going on while the SAG actors’ strike was ongoing. According to what he told Vanity Fair in September 2024, Cleopatra “is moving forward slowly.”

The script will now have a female perspective, as 1917 screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns is adapting drafts that David Scarpa (Napoleon) and Helgeland had written. The previous synopsis called the film a “political thriller” with violence, sex, and plots.

The writers’ historical basis is Stacey Schiff’s 2010 best-selling novel, which explores Cleopatra’s rise to power, challenging the age-old narrative that portrays her as a seductress and manipulator to portray a politically astute leader who was deeply invested in the well-being of her people. The book also delves into the Queen’s upbringing and examines her role as a mother and her cultural and religious beliefs.

The film, starring Gal Gadot, is also using Schiff’s book as a reference. Although Zendaya’s casting is considered a given (provoking the eternal controversy surrounding a black actress playing the Egyptian of Greek nationality), no name has been officially confirmed yet. We’ll keep following!

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