HERO CLEOPATRA'S HEIR : FILM HONOURS

 

Cleopatra's a hero, not a seductress. Gal Gadot. The said actor defends her casting as Egyptian queen.

Gal Gadot's Cleopatra film is set to make waves as the actor believes it will ''change the narrative''  about the historical figure.

In a recent interview with Vogue Hong Kong, Gadot expressed her passion for telling Cleopatra's story, aiming to celebrate her legacy and showcase the iconic queen beyond the common portrayal of her as a seductress.

However, fans aren't as pleased as the actor is about her casting, given her Israeli origin, but she has answers to the criticism.

Growing up in Israel, which borders Egypt, Gadot was familiar with Cleopatra's tales and found her to be a real and powerful female leader. '' 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. All I ever saw in regards to Cleopatra from the film was that she was this seductress woman who had an affair with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. But the truth is, there's so much more to her.''

Initially, Gadot's Cleopatra movie, first announced in 2020, was supposed to be directed by Patty Jenkins, who helmed the Wonder Woman film. However, Karl Skogland has taken over the directorial now, as per the publication.

The project also faced controversies due to Gadot's castings as the Egyptian queen. The Wonder Woman star is an Israeli actor playing a mixed-race historical figure.

The outrage mirrored the whitewashing of casting Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in Joseph L Mankiewicz's eponymous 1963 film and has once again taken over social media.

'' It's actually quite fitting because just like the Israeli Gal Gadot is, Cleopatra was an immigrant whose family took over a foreign land filled with ancient history and massacred the ethnic people of the land and spoke a different language entirely,''  read a tweet.

Another user hopes the backlash is as strong as it was when a black woman was cast for the same.

Gadot defended her portrayal in a 2020 BBC Arabic interview, emphasizing Cleopatra's Macedonian heritage and her admiration for the historic icon.

'' First of all, if you want to be true to the facts then Cleopatra was Macedonian. We were looking for a Macedonian actor that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn't there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra,'' she had said.  

The World Students Society thanks The Express Tribune.