Elizabeth Taylor’s shoes are impossible to fill perfectly, but choosing Gal Gadot to reprise the Golden Age starlet’s most iconic role, if the then-record price tag of producing the 1963 epic is any indication, will bring both the cinematic chops and the name recognition to justify what will surely become a behemoth of a blockbuster.
And yet, the wokes have run amok, aghast at the proposition that Gadot, an Ashkenazi Jew born and raised in Israel, could play the epic Egyptian empress. Evidently, Gadot’s haters skipped one too many history classes, considering that the real Cleopatra was neither black nor Arab.
How you gonna cast Gal Gadot to play Cleopatra when Lupita is RIGHT THERE?!?
— Justina Ireland (@justinaireland) October 11, 2020
The historical Cleopatra was definitely Macedonian Greek from her father’s side and most likely at least half Macedonian Greek from her mother’s side. As Cleopatra biographer Duane W. Roller wrote at the Oxford University Press blog, Cleopatra was most likely three-quarters Macedonian Greek and one-quarter Egyptian,” and, “here is no room for anything else, certainly not for any black African blood.”
Given this knowledge, Gadot is about as perfect a fit for Cleopatra as possible. The actress achieved global superstardom when she was cast as Wonder Woman, a role with an explicitly Greek origin story and one that required Gadot to contrive a specific accent distinct from her own Israeli-tinted English. If Gadot passed as Greek enough to play the iconic Diana Prince, then there’s absolutely no reason to believe that she couldn’t pass as the mostly (if not entirely) ethnically Greek Cleopatra.
Sure, Gadot is likely more preternaturally beautiful than the historic Cleopatra, who was more stunning and seductive in mannerisms than traditionally pretty. But so was Taylor, and you won’t find one word of complaint about her job at the role.
Cleopatra was not black. She was not Arab. Absent the option of choosing a literal Macedonian Greek with the same name recognition and profit potential as Gadot, Gadot is the perfect pick to play Cleopatra, thanks to both her raw skill as an actress and her physical likeness.
