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Moviegoers split as Gal Gadot to play Cleopatra

The news that Israeli "Wonder Woman" actress Gal Gadot will play Cleopatra in an upcoming film has the internet in a tangle of excitement and outrage.
attends the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 4, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.

Israeli actress Gal Gadot made an exiting announcement Oct. 11. "As you might have heard I teamed up with Patty Jenks and Laeta Kalogridis to bring the story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, to the big screen in a way she’s never been seen before. To tell her story for the first time through women’s eyes, both behind and in front of the camera," she tweeted. In another tweet, the "Wonder Woman" actress wrote, "Cleopatra is a story I wanted to tell for a very long time."

Media outlets worldwide were quick to pick up the story, hailing another Jenks-Gadot project after "Wonder Woman" and the upcoming "Wonder Woman 1984." Paramount Pictures is reportedly set to distribute the film, with Laeta Kalogridis writing the screenplay. Of course, all the coverage mentions the most famous Cleopatra — Elizabeth Taylor, whose 1936 film "Cleopatra" won four Oscars, including Best Picture.

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