Gal Gadot And Director Patty Jenkins Reunite For ‘Cleopatra’ Biopic

From bringing to life one of the most iconic female superheroes and now a historical queen in a Cleopatra biopic, Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins are sure beefing up their partnership portfolio.

The Wonder Woman duo is teaming up again with Gadot set to play the titular queen and Jenkins set to direct from a screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis. According to Deadline, Gadot pitched the concept and enlisted Kalogridis to flesh it out to an epic story.

Jenkins and Gadot will produce alongside Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Gadot’s Pilot Wave Motion Pictures partner Jaron Varsano. Kalogridis will be executive producing. Some of the screenwriter’s credits include Terminator Genisys, Shutter Island, and Alita: Battle Angel.

Paramount Pictures will be distributing after beating out competitors Warner Bros., Universal, Netflix, and Apple for rights for the film.

After the news broke, Gadot took to Twitter to share her excitement on the chance to play the Queen of Egypt.

“I love embarking on new journeys, I love the excitement of new projects, the thrill of bringing new stories to life,” she tweeted. “Cleopatra is a story I wanted to tell for a very long time. Can’t be more grateful about this A team!! @PattyJenks @ParamountPics #AtlasEntertainment #LaetaKalogridis”

The Egyptian queen’s tale has been brought to life plenty of times in the past with the most memorable one being that of the 1963 Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor. Joseph Mankiewicz directed the film which reportedly almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Still, it won four out of nine Oscar nominations.

For years, producers Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin have been working on an adaptation of Stacy Schiff’s biography Cleopatra in Sony Pictures. Angelina Jolie was attached to take on the role. And at one point, Lady Gaga was also rumored to take it on after her A Star Is Born Oscar-nominated performance. Directors in talk for the film include Denis Villeneuve, David Fincher, and James Cameron. According to Deadline, Sony’s film was lastly handed off to Eric Roth for a rewrite. With that, it seems that it will be a race between Sony and Paramount.

Gadot and Jenkins have just recently finished their sequel Wonder Woman 1984. Even though it was pushed back much like many other much-anticipated hits of the year, fans are still eagerly awaiting its release on Christmas Day.

Currently, Gadot is filming the Rawson Marshall Thurber-directed Netflix heist film Red Notice. Fans can also see her next on the Kenneth Branagh-directed mystery film Death on the Nile.