Another partnership outside the Wonder Woman franchise between Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot is just going to have to wait a little while longer.
Sources tell Deadline that Jenkins has stepped down as director of Cleopatra, a historical drama starring Gadot as Egypt’s renowned queen. Kari Skogland, who most recently helmed Marvel’s TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, will take over as director.
Jenkins will not be leaving the project completely as she will continue to produce instead. She will focus on the following two projects, Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 3 and Disney/Lucasfilm Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.
Cleopatra is still in production and has the support of Paramount Pictures. November of last year, Paramount allegedly beat over Apple, Universal, Warner Bros., and Netflix for the project’s rights.
The screenplay will be written by Laeta Kalogridis (Alita: Battle Angel, Shutter Island), serving as an executive producer. The film’s plot, which revolves around the lady who courted Julius Caesar and Marc Antony and was the final ruler of Egypt’s the Ptolemaic Kingdom, has not been revealed. Cleopatra has been a popular topic for Hollywood films, with Elizabeth Taylor portraying her in 1963 and Claudette Colbert portraying her in 1934.
Skogland rose to prominence with independent films The Size of Watermelons and Men With Guns and then 2008 crime thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking starring Jim Sturgess, Ben Kingsley, and Rose McGowan. Her first major break came as one of the primary directors on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale’s early seasons.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat.
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