Race Row over Angelina Jolie Playing Cleopatra

One week ago, it was announced that Stacy Schiff’s book “Cleopatra: A Life” would be turned into a film and that Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie had already been cast for the part. While some details still remain sketchy, the first reactions to the announcement have been anything but enthusiastic, with many saying even that this is just another instance of Hollywood having a white woman play a black character, as Movies NDTV informs.

It all reportedly started with a piece in Essence magazine titled “Another White Actress to Play Cleopatra?” that said that this was the second time the role went to a white actress, after Elizabeth Taylor in 1963, in the film that nearly brought 20th Century Pictures on the verge of bankruptcy. Readers agree with this take on the casting of Jolie as Cleopatra, saying that, no matter how perfect her facial features are and regardless of how plump her lips, the role should have been given to a black woman.

“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,” the Essence piece reads. “Were Vanessa Williams, Halle Berry and Thandie Newton unavailable for auditions that day? Why does Hollywood think it’s even slightly plausible to cast white women in roles that would be more sensible to cast a black actress for? Especially when that role is an African queen,” it further says.

One reason why Jolie was picked for the part, as we also informed you, was that she had the perfect face for it. In fact, the script was written precisely with her in mind, so she didn’t even have to go on audition for the role, it was being said. The film will be directed by Steven Soderbergh (“Ocean’s Eleven”) and will also probably star Jolie’s life partner, Brad Pitt, as Marc Anthony. Soderbergh reportedly wanted to make the film into a multi-million 3D extravaganza starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Hugh Jackman, but had to bow down to pressure from the movie studio.

“At a lunch this week in Manhattan to promote the book, Schiff and Little, Brown publisher Michael Pietsch said film producer Scott Rudin has bought the rights to Schiff’s book, envisioning Jolie in the role. (Rudin’s office confirms that the project ‘is being developed for and with Jolie.’) Schiff says Jolie fills the bill. ‘Physically, she’s the perfect look,’ she says. Brad Pitt is a no-brainer for Mark Antony. Julius Caesar? That one had Schiff temporarily stumped,” USA Today reported a week ago.