Brian Helgeland Talks Scrapped ‘Cleopatra’ Script Starring Angelina Jolie: ‘A Political Thriller’ with Lots of ‘Assassinations and Sex’

Samantha Bergeson
·3 min read
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Long live Queen Cleopatra, even if her film adaptations have been plagued for more than half a century.

After Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 “Cleopatra” starring Elizabeth Taylor made history as one of the biggest box office disasters ever, a long-gestating adaptation was set with Angelina Jolie attached to star (and directors like David Fincher and Ang Lee being attached at different times). “A Knight’s Tale” and “Man on Fire” writer Brian Helgeland wrote the script, and while the film was “almost made,” it eventually fell by the wayside.

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Now, Helgeland is recalling the details of the scrapped project in a new interview with Inverse. “I was the very first writer on ‘Cleopatra’ when it was being developed for Angelina Jolie to star in, which was almost made,” Helgeland said. “It had elements of a political thriller with assassinations and sex, but it’s an epic that’s divided between her love affairs with Caesar and Marc Antony. Lots of true events surprised me when I was writing it.”

Helgeland also pointed out some of the epic historical elements of the saga, specifically the love triangle with Cleopatra at the center. “For example, the day Caesar was assassinated — the Ides of March and all that stuff — she was in Rome. They were leaving for Egypt, and the reason why they had to kill him at that time was because he was headed out of town with her,” Helgeland said. “That’s historically true and featured in the script. She writes Marc Antony’s speech — ‘friends, Romans, countrymen’ — because he doesn’t know what to say, but she tells him what to say. It’s sort of her way of saying ‘fuck you’ to those guys because she’s smart enough and he’s not.”

A separate “Cleopatra” project is also in the works, with Denis Villeneuve attached to direct back in 2017. “Dune” actress Zendaya has long been rumored to star. Earlier this year, Villeneuve told Time he still hopes to make the feature.

Helgeland noted that he is unaware whether or not his script is being used as a basis for the upcoming iteration, though the Time report notes that “1917” writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns is currently working on the project. “I don’t have anything to do with the current version unless they call me and want to use my draft,” he said. “I have no idea if that script is being used, but I’ll be very happy if it is.”

And in yet another “Cleopatra” cinematic effort, Gal Gadot was set to star in a film about the queen back in 2022. Gadot’s “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins was originally attached to helm the feature in 2020, but was later replaced by “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” filmmaker Kari Skogland.

Gadot told InStyle Magazine in 2022 that despite her controversial casting, “we’re going to celebrate the Cleopatra story.” “We’re going to show not just how sexy and appealing she was, but how strategic and smart, and how much impact she had and still has on the world we’re living in today,” Gadot said. “I’ve watched all the ‘Cleopatra’ movies throughout history, but I feel like we’re telling the story the world needs to hear now.”

Gadot previously defended her casting in an interview with BBC Arabic, saying that there was no “Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra,” hence her starring in the role. That film is still in development.

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