Even though Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 “Cleopatra” starring Elizabeth Taylor nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox due to its troubled production, Hollywood looks eager to bring the sword-and-sandal epic back to the big screen. Of course, we don’t need to mention Steven Soderbergh’s grand, 1920s based, 3-D musical version with a score by Guided By Voices and starring Hugh Jackman, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Ray Winstone. That production fell apart once “Moneyball” came in the picture and we don’t need to remind you what happened there, and for now, the picture seems to be on the backburner.
However, another long-gestating “Cleopatra” film is the works from producer Scott Rudin. The producer acquired the rights to Stacy Schiff’s recently published “Cleopatra: A Life” way back in 2006 after he read a 10-page proposal. That must’ve been one helluva riveting read. Well, speaking at lunch this week to promote the book, Schiff mentioned and Rudin’s office confirmed that the film is definitely in development “for and with” Angelina Jolie to play the lead role.
Yeah, we can see that. Jolie has that sort of regal stature to pull off the role and she’s no stranger to playing period-specific royalty, portraying Olympias in Oliver Stone’s “Alexander.” But who to play Mark Antony and Julius Caesar? Schiff dream casts Brad Pitt for the former, but for the latter, she’s stumped. Your thoughts?