Actor Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins are coming together for the historical biopic Cleopatra, Variety reported on Sunday.
This will be the duo’s third collaboration after the yet-to-release Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to the hit 2017 film Wonder Woman.
In Cleopatra, the actor will be seen essaying the role of the Egyptian Queen who was also the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Tweeting about the film, Gadot said: “I love embarking on new journeys, I love the excitement of new projects, the thrill of bringing new stories to life. Cleopatra is a story I wanted to tell for a very long time.Can’t be more grateful about this A team.”
Gadot also posted the announcement on Instagram.
The film will be produced by Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven, Jenkins, Gadot and her Pilot Wave Motion Pictures partner Jaron Varsano. Laeta Kalogridis is the executive producer and will also be scripting the biographical drama. She wrote the script for Martin Scorsese‘s 2010 film Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Deadline reported that Paramount Pictures won the rights to the project, beating other bidders like Apple, Universal, Warner Bros., and Netflix.
Gadot and Jenkins recently completed Warner Bros Wonder Woman 1984 and have pushed its release to Christmas, due to the uncertainty surrounding the release of big banner films in theatres.
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Gadot’s Pilot Wave is separately developing with The Affair‘s Sarah Treem the series Hedy Lamarr at Apple TV+, and Polish WWII heroine Irena Sendler at Warner Bros. Both are star vehicles for the Israeli-born actress.
Gadot is currently shooting Red Notice, the Rawson Marshall Thurber-directed Netflix heist film. She will next be seen starring in the Kenneth Branagh-directed Death on the Nile in December.
Cleopatra’s relationship with former Roman ruler Julius Caesar and later, Marc Antony have graced the big screen before. She will join the club with Claudette Colberth and Elizabeth Taylor who have earlier played the role of the Egyptian queen. The 1963 Elizabeth Taylor film, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, had nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox despite being a bit hit and winning four Oscars out of the nine that it was nominated for.