Cleopatra is coming to life!
Paramount Pictures just won an auction for a film that has Gal Gadot as Cleopatra, helmed by Patty Jenkins, Deadline reported Sunday (October 11).
The two also work together on the Wonder Woman film series.
The period biographical drama will be written by Laeta Kalogridis.
“This is the first major project package won by Paramount Motion Picture Group President Emma Watts in an auction that came down to Universal, Warner Bros, Netflix and Apple, I’ve heard,” the outlet reported.
“The film will be produced by Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven, Jenkins, Gadot and her Pilot Wave Motion Pictures partner Jaron Varsano. Kalogridis will be the exec producer. Deal closed yesterday after Gadot — the film was her idea and generated by Pilot Wave — took part in a select number of Zoom pitches, accompanied by Jenkins, Roven and Varsano, with Kalogridis laying out the beats of an epic story that is based on the research she did after Gadot enlisted her.”
The report also notes that “there is an accelerated timetable and Paramount prevailed because the studio…created an urgency to mount a big budget theatrical release film as quickly as possible.”
There also appears to be a competition to get to telling the story of Cleopatra first.
“Sony Pictures and producers Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin have for years developed an adaptation of the Stacy Schiff biography Cleopatra. Angelina Jolie was attached and Lady Gaga was later rumored for a possible coronation following her Oscar-nominated performance in A Star Is Born. The list of potential directors has included James Cameron, Denis Villenueve and David Fincher. The film has been through many rewrites, last from David Scarpa. I hear most recently that Eric Roth is working on it, meaning there might be a footrace here between Sony and Paramount to go first.”
