The last time Hollywood created a Cleopatra, the actress was Elizabeth Taylor and the cost nearly bankrupted a major studio. The announcement of a remake featuring the Israeli actress Gal Gadot went forth like the mounted trumpeters who heralded the queen’s arrival in Rome in the 1963 film.
But almost immediately, there was a revolt. Why had they not cast an Egyptian woman, some asked. The journalist Sameera Khan held that Cleopatra was Greek and Berber, but lamented that an Arab actress had not been cast. She accused Gadot of cultural imperialism. “Your country steals Arab land & you’re stealing their movie roles,” she wrote. Soon the argument devolved into a debate over the precise ethnicity of Cleopatra, the ruler of ancient Egypt, and whether