Fans divide over Gal Gadot’s casting as Cleopatra

Decision reignites debate on whitewashing in Hollywood

The Wonder Woman team is reuniting for another film together but this time it’s not as wonderful, according to Twitterati.

This week, Paramount Pictures revealed that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will be partnering with her superhero star Gal Gadot in an upcoming film based on the iconic Egyptian queen Cleopatra, reported E! Online.

Gadot also shared the news on her Twitter saying, “As you might have heard, I teamed up with Patty Jenkins 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.”

However, the internet was divided on Gadot’s casting. Cleopatra was born in Egypt, The History Channel notes that her family line was from Macedonian Greece. Thus, users were quick to weigh in on whether an African, Middle Eastern or European actor should take on the role of the ancient leader, given that Gadot is Israeli.

"Hollywood’s at it again with the whitewashing," one user wrote on Twitter. Another asked, "So...there were no Egyptian women to play, um, an Egyptian queen?" On the contrary, author Morgan Jerkins took to the micro-blogging website and said, “I'm sure Gal Gadot is going to do a wonderful job as Cleopatra. However, for me personally, I would love a Cleopatra who's darker than a brown paper bag because that seems a bit more historically accurate.”

Another user doubled down saying, "Which Hollywood dummy thought it would be a good idea to cast an Israeli actress as Cleopatra (a very bland looking one) instead of a stunning Arab actress like Nadine Njeim?" In fact, a Near Eastern studies professor emeritus at Binghamton University, Gerald Kadish, told Newsweek that there remains "one unresolved" issue about Cleopatra's ethnicity, which is her mother's unknown identity. But her siblings are thought to be Greco-Macedonian as well.

Many, however, were confused by the backlash. "Why are y'all mad? She was Greek," one Twitter user commented. Actor and human rights advocate Nazanin Boniadi also wrote, "Cleopatra was ethnically Macedonian Greek. Stop shaming Gal Gadot and dividing people based on falsities. Reserve your outrage for world issues."

Gadot's fans believed that her ancestry isn't relevant to the role and pointed to the fact that Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor have previously portrayed the Queen of the Nile.

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