ANGELINA
JOLIE:
Makes a pretty good Cleopatra.
It has been mooted and it is still a possibility, that the
Lara Croft star might get to play the part, if development
continues in 2022.
The
first Cleopatra movie was made in 1917. It was silent
and most unfortunately, no known prints of the William Fox
film survive. The second movie starred Claudette
Colbert, made in 1934. The third movie starred Vivien
Leigh, made in Technicolor in 1945.
The
fourth movie starred Elizabeth
Taylor, a near total box office
flop, made in 1963.
Then
in 1972, Charlton Heston revisited the part in Antony and Cleopatra,
for the fifth adaptation.
But
William Shakespeare, the Bard, beat them all to the punch
with his play, a tragic love story, that old Bill does so
well.
In
2023, Gal
Gadot is limbering up for an attempt to make Cleopatra a
box office success once again. While Netflix
started a racial controversy, as to the nationality
and skin color of the iconic Pharaoh Queen, with Adele
James starring in a DocuDrama about African Queens.
Antony
and Cleopatra (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Anthonie, and
Cleopatra) is a tragedy by William
Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's
Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre
in around 1607; its first appearance in print was in the
Folio of 1623.
The plot is based on Thomas North's 1579 English translation
of Plutarch's Lives (in Ancient Greek) and follows the
relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time
of the Sicilian revolt to Cleopatra's suicide during the War
of Actium. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of
Antony's fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate and the
first emperor of the Roman Empire. The tragedy is mainly set
in the Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Egypt and is
characterized by swift shifts in geographical location and
linguistic register as it alternates between sensual,
imaginative Alexandria and a more pragmatic, austere Rome.
Many consider Shakespeare's Cleopatra, whom Enobarbus
describes as having "infinite variety", as one of
the most complex and fully developed female characters in
the playwright's body of work. She is frequently vain
and histrionic enough to provoke an audience almost to
scorn; at the same time, Shakespeare invests her and Antony
with tragic grandeur. These contradictory features have led
to famously divided critical responses. It is difficult to
classify Antony and Cleopatra as belonging to a single
genre. It can be described as a history play (though it does
not completely adhere to historical accounts), as a tragedy
(though not completely in Aristotelian terms), as a comedy,
as a romance, and according to some critics, such as
McCarter, a problem play. All that can be said with
certainty is that it is a Roman play, and perhaps even a
sequel to another of Shakespeare's tragedies, Julius
Caesar.
SYNOPSIS
Mark Antony - one of the triumvirs of the Roman Republic,
along with Octavius and Lepidus - has neglected his
soldierly duties after being beguiled by Egypt's Queen,
Cleopatra. He ignores Rome's domestic problems, including
the fact that his third wife Fulvia rebelled against
Octavius and then died.
Octavius calls Antony back to Rome from Alexandria to help
him fight against Sextus Pompey, Menecrates, and Menas,
three notorious
pirates
of the
Mediterranean.
At Alexandria, Cleopatra begs Antony not to go, and though
he repeatedly affirms his deep passionate love for her, he
eventually leaves.
The triumvirs meet in Rome, where Antony and Octavius put to
rest, for now, their disagreements. Octavius' general,
Agrippa, suggests that Antony should marry Octavius's
sister, Octavia, in order to cement the friendly bond
between the two men. Antony accepts. Antony's lieutenant
Enobarbus, though, knows that Octavia can never satisfy him
after Cleopatra. In a famous passage, he describes
Cleopatra's charms: "Age cannot wither her, nor custom
stale / Her infinite variety: other women cloy / The
appetites they feed, but she makes hungry / Where most she
satisfies."
A soothsayer warns Antony that he is sure to lose if he ever
tries to fight Octavius.
In
Egypt, Cleopatra learns of Antony's marriage to Octavia and
takes furious revenge upon the messenger who brings her the
news. She grows content only when her courtiers assure her
that Octavia is homely: short, low-browed, round-faced and
with bad hair.
Before battle, the triumvirs parley with Sextus Pompey, and
offer him a truce. He can retain Sicily and Sardinia, but he
must help them "rid the sea of pirates" and send
them tributes. After some hesitation, Sextus agrees. They
engage in a drunken celebration on Sextus' galley, though
the austere Octavius leaves early and sober from the party.
Menas suggests to Sextus that he kill the three triumvirs
and make himself ruler of the Roman Republic, but he
refuses, finding it dishonourable. After Antony departs Rome
for Athens, Octavius and Lepidus break their truce with
Sextus and war against him. This is unapproved by Antony,
and he is furious.
Antony returns to Hellenistic Alexandria and crowns
Cleopatra and himself as rulers of Egypt and the eastern
third of the Roman Republic (which was Antony's share as one
of the triumvirs). He accuses Octavius of not giving him his
fair share of Sextus' lands, and is angry that Lepidus, whom
Octavius has imprisoned, is out of the triumvirate. Octavius
agrees to the former demand, but otherwise is very
displeased with what Antony has done.
Antony prepares to battle Octavius. Enobarbus urges Antony
to fight on land, where he has the advantage, instead of by
sea, where the navy of Octavius is lighter, more mobile and
better manned. Antony refuses, since Octavius has dared him
to fight at sea. Cleopatra pledges her fleet to aid Antony.
However, during the Battle of Actium off the western coast
of Greece, Cleopatra flees with her sixty ships, and Antony
follows her, leaving his forces to ruin. Ashamed of what he
has done for the love of Cleopatra, Antony reproaches her
for making him a coward, but also sets this true and deep
love above all else, saying "Give me a kiss; even this
repays me."
Octavius sends a messenger to ask Cleopatra to give up
Antony and come over to his side. She hesitates, and flirts
with the messenger, when Antony walks in and angrily
denounces her behavior. He sends the messenger to be
whipped. Eventually, he forgives Cleopatra and pledges to
fight another battle for her, this time on land.
On the eve of the battle, Antony's soldiers hear strange
portents, which they interpret as the god Hercules
abandoning his protection of Antony. Furthermore, Enobarbus,
Antony's long-serving lieutenant, deserts him and goes over
to Octavius' side. Rather than confiscating Enobarbus'
goods, which Enobarbus did not take with him when he fled,
Antony orders them to be sent to Enobarbus. Enobarbus is so
overwhelmed by Antony's generosity, and so ashamed of his
own disloyalty, that he dies from a broken heart.
Antony loses the battle as his troops desert en masse and he
denounces Cleopatra: "This foul Egyptian hath betrayed
me." He resolves to kill her for the imagined
treachery. Cleopatra decides that the only way to win back
Antony's love is to send him word that she killed herself,
dying with his name on her lips. She locks herself in her
monument, and awaits Antony's return.
Her plan backfires: rather than rushing back in remorse to
see the "dead" Cleopatra, Antony decides that his
own life is no longer worth living. He begs one of his
aides, Eros, to run him through with a sword, but Eros
cannot bear to do it and kills himself. Antony admires Eros'
courage and attempts to do the same, but only succeeds in
wounding himself. In great pain, he learns that Cleopatra is
indeed alive. He is hoisted up to her in her monument and
dies in her arms.
Since Egypt has been defeated, the captive Cleopatra is
placed under a guard of Roman soldiers. She tries to take
her own life with a dagger, but Proculeius disarms her.
Octavius arrives, assuring her she will be treated with
honour and dignity. But Dolabella secretly warns her that
Octavius intends to parade her at his Roman triumph.
Cleopatra bitterly envisions the endless humiliations
awaiting her for the rest of her life as a Roman conquest.
Cleopatra kills herself using the venomous bite of an asp,
imagining how she will meet Antony again in the afterlife.
Her serving maids Iras and Charmian also die, Iras from
heartbreak and Charmian from one of the two asps in
Cleopatra's basket. Octavius discovers the dead bodies and
experiences conflicting emotions. Antony and Cleopatra's
deaths leave him free to become the first Roman Emperor, but
he also feels some sympathy for them. He orders a public
military funeral.
...
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CLEOPATRA
THE MUMMY - UNDER DEVELOPMENT
'Cleopatra
- The Mummy' is the sequel to 'Kulo-Luna.'
Kulo-Luna was
the first of the John Storm franchise (for which a draft
script is available to studios and actor's agents). The John Storm
franchise is a series of
ocean awareness adventures, featuring the incredible solar
powered trimaran: Elizabeth
Swann.
