By Sarah Sluis
Making a movie version of Cleopatra is a dicey proposition. The 1963 film starring Elizabeth Taylor is famous for being an extravagant, way-over-budget flop. Could Cleopatra as a subject be cursed?
Enter Angelina Jolie, who has almost as many kids as Elizabeth Taylor had husbands (Jolie has six children, Taylor had eight marriages to seven husbands). Like Taylor, she's a larger-than-life tabloid
figure with the kind of star persona that easily lets the public cast her in the role of a queen. Jolie's done some swords-and-sandals work before with Alexander, though this role would take her in a different, more Evelyn Salt direction: Paul Greengrass (the Bourne series) is one of many in contention for the directing spot. James Cameron reportedly expressed interest at one point, but he will be busy with the Avatar sequels unless this project is put on hold for another five years or so.
The change comes from the source material. The biography Cleopatra: A Life, written by Stacy Schiff, recasts Cleopatra as a woman who wielded her power through strategy and politics, not sex appeal. Jolie has distinguished herself by turning herself into something of an action hero through such roles as Salt, originally written for a male actor, Wanted, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and her breakout role Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. I doubt she would be interested in the part unless this Cleopatra displayed some meatiness and intelligence along with her seductiveness. The Sony project also has Scott Rudin on board as a producer, someone who's known more for arthouse award winners than big-scale action. Could Cleopatra (gasp) mix battles and political intrigue with characterization and drama? A clue: Brian Helgeland, who has written screenplays for projects both mediocre (Robin Hood, Cirque du Freak) and fantastic (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) worked on the script. He's frequently an adapter, so if the source material is as good as everyone's saying, the project should be in good shape.
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