Hollywood has been trying to get a new take on the life and times of Cleopatra off the ground for a decade. Big names like Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, David Fincher, Paul Greengrass and Ang Lee have all circled the project.
Towards the end of last year, it was announced that Wonder Woman duo Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot would be tackling the historical epic, with Terminator Genisys and Alita: Battle Angel writer Laeta Kalogridis penning the script. Jenkins has now dropped out of the director’s chair, but a suitable replacement has been found.
Per Deadline, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Kari Skogland has signed on to take the reins of Cleopatra, with Jenkins remaining on board as producer so she can focus on Wonder Woman 3 and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, the latter of which was just hit with an indefinite delay.
Paramount will be producing what promises to be a very expensive movie, albeit one that hopefully doesn’t run into the same financial trouble as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s 1963 Cleopatra, which almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox when costs skyrocketed to $31 million, the equivalent of well over $260 million when adjusted for inflation.