Are Cleopatra and Greengrass a Perfect Match?

Angelina Jolie has been attached to a revisionist take on Cleopatra for quite a while now. Producer Scott Rudin has been involved from the start, but the project, based on Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff's biography Cleopatra: A Life, has had problems finding a director. But those problems might now be solved. Or are they?

Deadline is reporting that Cleopatra is "pretty close" to signing a director. And though no one has actually stated it out loud, Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, Green Zone) is the name being whispered. Last fall, James Cameron was considering helming the 3D epic, scripted by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River), but he eventually passed. Steven Soderbergh also flirted with the project. But insiders are quite excited about the idea of Greengrass working on this new take on the life of Egypt's most famous queen, describing him as "smart, tough, political, hard-nosed . . . sort of the idea of Cleopatra in the book." While that might be true, I have a crazy thought. Hire a female director.

I think it's a blatantly obvious choice to have a woman direct a film about one of history's most famous women. Especially since this new film was adapted from a book by a woman and is said to focus on Cleopatra's political acumen and accomplishments. According to Rudin, "It is a completely revisionist Cleopatra, a much more grown-up sophisticated version . . . She's not a sex kitten, she's a politician, strategist, warrior. In the Joseph Mankiewicz movie, Elizabeth Taylor is a seductress, but the histories of Cleopatra have been written by men. This is the first to be written by a woman. It felt like such a blow-the-doors-off-the-hinges idea of how to tell it, impossible to resist." I repeat: Hollywood, hire a female director! How about Kathryn Bigelow? I hear she's pretty good. If I remember correctly, you even awarded her an Oscar. She also has proven experience working on desert action flicks. And if it helps, she's hot too.

This would make for great PR. Think about it — a 3D epic about Egypt's most famous queen, based on a book by a female Pulitzer Prize winner, starring the world's biggest female star, directed by Hollywood's biggest female director? Also, Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chair Amy Pascal is the executive in charge. This could be a completely female-centric production. It's genius! And, hey, before it's finished, this project could well need all the good press it can get.

Although Jolie's casting has been endorsed by author Shiff, who said, "I think [Jolie] be perfect for it . . . physically, she's got the perfect look," there’s already been some rather nasty controversy about Jolie playing an African queen.

Writing for Essence.com last June, Shirea L. Carroll said, "Honestly, I don't care how full Angelina Jolie's lips are, how many African children she adopts, or how bronzed her skin will become for the film, I firmly believe this role should have gone to a black woman . . . Were Vanessa Williams, Halle Berry and Thandie Newton unavailable for auditions that day?"

I know Hollywood is nervous about this project. It's huge, risky and going to be expensive. Plus, it has some historical bad karma inherited from the 1963 version, which has gone down in history as the flick that nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox and almost killed Elizabeth Taylor. I want to remind Sony Pictures that a man directed that version. Coincidence? Only time will tell. But why tempt fate — hire a female director.