'Don't cancel me for what I'm about to say': An Egyptologist explains why Israeli Gal Gadot is not too white to play Cleopatra

Israeli actress Gal Gadot announced on Twitter that she’s teaming up with “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins for a new project based on the life of Cleopatra:

I love embarking on new journeys,I love the excitement of new projects, the thrill of bringing new stories to life.Cleopatra is a story I wanted to tell for a very long time.Can’t be more grateful about this A team!! @PattyJenks @ParamountPics #AtlasEntertainment #LaetaKalogridis https://t.co/qLH7vfCaUo

— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) October 11, 2020

And people are already pissed about a Jew playing an Egyptian ruler:

Which Hollywood dumbass 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?

And shame on you, Gal Gadot. Your country steals Arab land & you’re stealing their movie roles… smh. https://t.co/GY5tYEcl4K pic.twitter.com/JcrnM1RUQq

— sameera khan (@SameeraKhan) October 11, 2020

Others suggest Gadot is too white for the role:

Gal Gadot has been cast as Cleopatra. It is rumored the casting director used advanced 3D modeling technology to depict what Cleopatra may have looked like. pic.twitter.com/9GgS2SD2p9

— BreatheHeavy.com/exhale (@breatheheavycom) October 11, 2020

Just because she was Greek “doesn’t mean she was white”:

I look forward to the long winded posts chastising WOC for ignoring this like we did Little Women. I'll be the one reminding folks there is nothing feminist about whitewashing & erasure. Cleopatra was Greek, that doesn't mean she was white. https://t.co/Y9QUbnHEK9

— ❄Mikki Kendall❄ (@Karnythia) October 11, 2020

As for the proper shade of the actress, they want “darker than a brown paper bag”:

Whew here we go. Lots of folks are upset about this choice. A thread about Cleopatra, and her ethnicity/ “look”, and why this is considered controversial 1/?

(FWIW: I’m an Egyptologist and I have looooong been obsessed w Cleopatra) https://t.co/7OJv3pMfmy

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Also: Classicists and Egyptologists fight over where Cleo (as I call her affectionately) belongs. She’s ours. Will not argue about this. 2/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Seriously though: Cleopatra was Cleopatra VII (yes there were many others!). She was of Macedonian Greek descent (father= Ptolemy XII Auletes) but… was was her mother’s ethnicity? Egyptian? Greek? Other? Many possibilities. We don’t know for sure 3/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Her mom was *probably* Cleopatra V, the only attested wife of Ptolemy XII. We know of one child she had, it’s not 100% certain she is the mother of Cleopatra. Cleo V’s ethnicity is unknown, very little known about her generally, hence Cleopatra’s ethnicity= 50% Greek, 50% ? 4/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Do we know what Cleopatra looked like? YES! (as much as any ancient ruler). We have coins and sculptures/busts of her, and… Elizabeth Taylor/ Gal Gadot she was not, with a hooked nose and sharp chin. However, she was a GENIUS 5:? pic.twitter.com/kuQ8AVQ5M6

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Like if she’d been alive today, she would have been a Nobel Prize winning scientist, or a world renowned author… she could speak and read at least 9 languages (if not more), including Egyptian, which made the people of Egypt love her 6/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Now, sculptures of Cleo are a bit kinder. We know of a lot more b/c of the work of Dr Sally-Ann Ashton, who identified the triple uraeus (the snakes on a crown) as a likely attribute of Cleopatra sculptures. 7/? pic.twitter.com/fXzjyD3tDD

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Regardless of what she actually looked like (someone with strong features), her brilliance and charm would have been mesmerizing. Think of the best college prof you had with the electricity of a magnetic politician with the presence of a Hollywood actor. That was Cleopatra 8/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Julius Caesar could not resist her (although that was a political move on Cleo’s part in part) but WHEW can you imagine an older man swept off his feet by a sheer force of courtly genius, dressed to the nines? We’ve seen that story just a few times. I am sure Cleo dressed ? 9/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

I am sure the sex was very very hot. It’s about the mind mostly. Yes this is what we Egyptologists think about. Well I do. *moving swiftly on* 10/? pic.twitter.com/LY3ixFDk88

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

So what *could* she have looked like? The people of Alexandria today (yes Alexandria was Egypt’s capital during the Ptolemaic Era) have much lighter skin compared to people in southern Egypt, many with reddish hair and green/blue eyes 11/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Of course there is Turkish influence and I’m not saying that the people of Alex today look like people did 2000+ years ago. However- Alex was a hugely cosmopolitan city in Cleopatra’s time. You would have seen every type of person imaginable from all over the known world 12/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Cleopatra probably had lighter skin, not unlike the people of Alex today, but *we don’t know for sure*. Her mom could have been from southern Egypt, or Macedonia, or anywhere in the Ptolemaic world (and if she was a secondary wife or concubine all bets are off) 13/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

We can say based on Cleopatra’s coins and sculpture that she did look Macedonian in her features (she does look a bit like her dad), her eyes always looked Egyptian to me but I’m biased. So, on to the choice of Gal Gadot vs an Egyptian actress 14/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Don’t cancel me for what I’m about to say. Just stating the facts. This will be a HUGE big budget movie. Like Gladiator level. @PattyJenks is a world class director (and human being), and I think she’ll do the story serious justice+ will pay attention to the history 15/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

The way Hollywood financing works, major big budget movies like this=multiple big ticket actors. Otherwise they don’t get made. Of course representation matters, and if we knew 100% that Cleopatra was 100% ancient Egyptian (a la Hatshepsut) I’d be angry too about the choice 16/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Archaeology and history tell us she wasn’t 100% Egyptian, even if she acted like a proper Egyptian queen and spoke/read Egyptian. She was half Macedonian and half who knows, but probably more than 50% Macedonian playing the odds. 17/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

So, hiring a hugely bankable Mediterranean actress to play Cleopatra is… not as off as you might think. I’m not touching the issues around Israeli-Egypt relations with a 1000km pole, no thanks, not my business to comment. 18/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

These issues are so touchy, as they should be. We all have to interrogate the choices made for art and movies with major global influence. However, we have to do it, in cases like Cleopatra, putting the archaeological/historical evidence front and center. 19/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Gal Gadot is 100x a better choice than Angelina Jolie. I think she’ll be incredible in the role. She’ll study like mad and make a powerful on-screen Cleopatra 20/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Don’t forget that Cleopatra was reinvented for every age- from the Romans who vilified her, to Shakespeare who made her a harlot, to the 1920s where she was portrayed as a sex goddess. Patty Jenkins will reinvent her for us. Cleopatra transcends time 21/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

We all need a powerful on female character who suffers no fools, is worshipped for her genius+ leadership, and who does her best to save Egypt from Roman rule. Whew. I cannot imagine what Cleopatra went through. 22/?

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020

Whether you agree or disagree with my assessment, I hope you learned something, and that history is complex and rich and still has enormous influence on our modern culture FIN

— Scary Parcak ?? (@indyfromspace) October 11, 2020