Over in Egypt, a new big budget documentary about Cleopatra has been announced as a direct response to the controversialQueen Cleopatradocuseries on Netflix. Produced by Jada Pinkett Smith,Queen Cleopatrahas been criticized by Egyptians over its casting of Black actress Adele James as the late ruler. Critics argue that Cleopatra was of European descent and it’s a “violation of the country’s media laws” to portray her as Black. The Egyptian governmental agency called the Supreme Council of Antiquities previously dubbed the Netflix doc as a"falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy."
“Statues of Queen Cleopatra confirm that she had Hellenistic (Greek) features, distinguished by light skin, a drawn-out nose and thin lips,” the Egyptian government noted on Twitter.
Now, it’s been revealed that the next step has been to make a new documentary that will cast a light-skinned woman to play Cleopatra.Varietyreports that the Al Wathaeqya channel, said to be a subsidiary of the state-affiliated United Media Services, officially announced that production has started on a “high-end doc about the true story of Queen Cleopatra.”
There have also been efforts made to getQueen Cleopatraoutright banned in Egypt. Egyptian attorney Mahmoud Al-Sedary filed a complaint with the public prosecutor about the show promoting “Afrocentric thinking” and “erasing the Egyptian identity,” demanding for access to Netflix in Egypt to be blocked. Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef also said on Piers Morgan’s show that the doc was another example of the film industry appropriating his culture.
Related:Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra Draws Complaints from Egyptians Over Black Actress Casting
Queen Cleopatra Has Come Under Fire
Director Tina Gharavi has addressed the backlash, standing by the casting and arguing that “it is more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele than Elizabeth Taylor ever did.” Gharavi also responded to the claims of Cleopatra’s lineage, feeling that the “known facts” would actually make it highly unlikely that Cleopatra would be a light-skinned woman.
“Cleopatra’s heritage has been attributed at one time or another to the Greeks, the Macedonians and the Persians,” she said, perVariety. “The known facts are that her Macedonian Greek family — the Ptolemaic lineage — intermarried with West Africa’s Seleucid dynasty and had been in Egypt for 300 years. Cleopatra was eight generations away from these Ptolemaic ancestors, making the chance of her being white somewhat unlikely. After 300 years, surely, we can safely say Cleopatra was Egyptian.”
It wasn’t so long ago when there was another instance of casting Cleopatra causing controversy, but that time, it was because the actress was too light-skinned. In 2020, it was reported that Gal Gadot would be starring in a Cleopatra movie by Patty Jenkins. There had been some backlash as a result, with someaccusing Gadot and Jenkins of “whitewashing” Cleopatra. Perhaps there’s just no way to cast the Egyptian ruler in a way that will satisfy everyone.
“First of all, if you want to be true to the facts then Cleopatra was Macedonian,” Gadotsaid at the time, defending her casting. “We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn’t there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra. I have friends from across the globe, whether they’re Muslims or Christian or Catholic or atheist or Buddhist, or Jewish of course. People are people, and with me I want to celebrate the legacy of Cleopatra and honor this amazing historic icon that I admire so much.”
