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Denzel Washington being cast in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Netflix movie as ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal is sparking some controversy in Tunisia, the home country of the great military commander.

According to French newspaper Courrier International, there are complaints about depicting the Carthaginian general as a Black African being made in the media and the Tunisian parliament. Member of Parliament Yassine Mami has pointed out that Hannibal, who was born in 247 BC in Carthage – now known as Tunis, the Tunisian capital – was of West Asian Semitic origin. “There is a risk of falsifying history: we need to take position on this subject,” the Tunisian politician reportedly stated.

Concurrently, French-language Tunisian newspaper La Presse has published an editorial in which it similarly objects that depicting Hannibal as a Black African is “according to Tunisians and many observers, a historical error.”

However, Tunisian culture minister Hayet Ketat-Guermazi had a different, more pragmatic take on the matter.

The Gal Gadot Cleopatra movie is taking a long time to develop because the filmmakers want to represent Cleopatra's story respectfully. The film has faced controversy over the casting of Gal Gadot and accusations of white-washing, but Gadot defends her casting and emphasizes the historical accuracy of Cleopatra's ethnicity as Macedonian. The upcoming movie plans to focus not only on Cleopatra's appeal but also on her strategic capabilities and the impact she had on the world, aiming to tell a story that is relevant to today's world.

A fair amount of Gal Gadot Cleopatra movie news has been coming down the pipeline, both causing controversy and garnering a fair amount of anticipation. The famed ancient Egyptian queen has been depicted on the screen many times before but was most famously portrayed (and whitewashed) by actress Elizabeth Taylor in the eponymous 1963 historical epic. The latest actress to take up the mantle...

Gal Gadot's Cleopatra movie is bringing back memories of a 60-year-old bomb that changed Hollywood. In 2020, Gadot was cast as Cleopatra in an epic film that would reunite her with Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who was eventually replaced by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's Keri Skogland. Ever since, the project has been stuck in development hell, even switching studios from Universal to Paramount, though it remains controversial because Gadot, an Israeli actress, was cast as Cleopatra, an Egyptian queen, which has been met with accusations of whitewashing.

Before the SAG-AFTRA strike, Gadot was on a press tour promoting her Netflix spy thriller, Heart of Stone, when she made some innocuous comments about her casting as Cleopatra and reinventing the role. However, the interview has reignited the casting controversy and given the current state of Hollywood, Gal Gadot's Cleopatra movie is giving people flashbacks to the 1963 Cleopatra...

Exclusive: Newen Connect is jumping on the Cleopatra bandwagon by leading its Sunny Side of the Doc slate with a documentary about the last queen of Egypt.

Cleopatra: Cracking the Enigma helms an eight-strong slate being shopped this week at the La Rochelle confab, as Newen attempts to exert dominance in the international doc market.

The four-part show for French network Rmc Découverte, which is produced by Label News, is based on unprecedented excavations and shows never-before-seen footage of attempts to lift the veil on the mysterious life of the iconic Egyptian ruler.

Cracking the Enigma comes fresh off the back of Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docudrama, which generated headlines due to controversies surrounding the ethnicity of the lead, Adele James.

Speaking to Deadline, Newen Head of Factual Distribution Chloé Persyn said the distributor is not trying to ride the wave of the Netflix show’s controversy but instead take...

When I was recently spending time with my 5-year-old nephew, he asked me, "When you were a kid, did you have your own phone?"

Startled by the question, initially I wasn't sure how to answer him. As a Gen Xer who grew up in the 1980s and '90s, my concept of a phone when I was his age was completely different from his today. "Nobody had their own phone," I replied. "Cell phones did not exist when I was your age."

As he opened his mouth wide in disbelief, I was reminded of reignited debates around Cleopatra's race that have emerged with Netflix's depiction of Egypt's last pharaoh in "Queen Cleopatra." This docuseries is part of the African Queens collection, with Jada Pinkett-Smith as executive producer. "Queen Cleopatra" stars Adele James - a light brown-skinned British actress who has a white mother and a Black father - as the famous monarch.

“Queen Cleopatra,” Netflix’s four-part documentary on perhaps the most famous Queen of Egypt, has been very poorly reviewed.

On Rotten Tomatoes it currently has a tomatometer score of 10%, meaning official reviews have been terrible. But it also has a 2% audience score, meaning that the overwhelming majority of non-professional users who bothered reviewing the show themselves hated it too.

But no doubt you’ve seen by now how the show’s star and creators have had to push back against much of the reaction to the show, and the star herself has been harassed. So what’s going on?

It’s complex, but in short, while yes, there are sincere critiques of the show’s historical inaccuracies and the production itself, there is also a separate backlash that is unmistakably racist. Let’s dive in.

Racism

“Queen Cleopatra” focuses on many of the things people know about her. Her rise to power in Egypt,...

Historical accuracy often takes a hit when the contentious lives of historical figures are adapted for the screen. If the historical figure in question happens to be Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, it becomes just more difficult to draw the blurry line separating reality from creative liberty. From Georges Méliès's 1899 silent horror film Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1963 epic historical drama Cleopatra, with Elizabeth Taylor donning the hat of the legendary Egyptian queen, Queen Cleopatra's life has been the subject of many adaptations that have left a deep imprint on the minds of audiences over decades. Each time Queen Cleopatra has been reincarnated on the screen, different versions of the events, which shaped her life, have made the final cut, leaving an oft-distorted picture on the canvas. Netflix's latest docuseries, Queen Cleopatra, with Adele James taking the helm as the larger-than-life historical queen, makes an attempt...

Netflix's latest Top 10 hit, Queen Cleopatra, currently holds a 2% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes following a casting backlash for the documentary series. Queen Cleopatra is part of Netflix's African Queens series, which documents female figures of power throughout African history. The show has received major backlash for its portrayal of Cleopatra VII as a Black woman, causing controversy surrounding the docuseries' historical accuracy. Despite this, the show has climbed into Netflix's Top 10.

Queen Cleopatra's score on Rotten Tomatoes reveals the documentary series sits at a 2% audience score at the time of writing. This is up from its previous score which, according to Forbes, was 1%. Despite being in Netflix's Top 10, the series has garnered one of the worst audience score on Rotten Tomatoes in history. In addition to a dismal audience score, Queen Cleopatra sports a Tomatometer of 11% with critics.

Queen Cleopatra's Racism Backlash & Controversy Explained

Much of the...

The Netflix original series Queen Cleopatra chronicles the life of its titular subject, Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and its popularity has viewers wondering whether there will be a Queen Cleopatra season 2. Released in May 2023, Queen Cleopatra is a docudrama miniseries, in which the life, rule, and influence of Cleopatra VII are discussed and depicted over the course of four episodes. The format of the show mixes dramatic portrayals — fictionalized scripted reenactments with actors in the roles of Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Julius Caesar, Augustine, and others — and talking-head interviews with historians and other academics with expertise on the iconic figure and the events of her reign.

Queen Cleopatra was executive produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, who also narrates the series, as the second installment of her African Queens franchise. Like the first installment, African Queens: Njinga, Queen Cleopatra is also directed by Tina Gharavi. While the prior series, which debuted in...

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first scripted TV series, the Jennifer Lopez-starring action film The Mother and documentaries featuring Anna Nicole Smith and Barack Obama are among the high-profile projects hitting Netflix this month.

At the end of May, the streamer is dropping the Schwarzenegger-starring spy comedy Fubar, in which the former California governor and Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro play a father and daughter who discover they’ve each been secretly working as CIA operatives as they’re forced to team up and get to know each other’s true selves.

And earlier this month, in time for Mother’s Day, Lopez plays an assassin who emerges from hiding to protect a daughter she gave up for adoption years earlier in The Mother, streaming this Friday. The Niki Caro-directed action movie also stars Joseph Fiennes, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Paul Raci and Gael Garcia Bernal and was written by Andrea Berloff,...

Queen Cleopatra star Adele James has reacted to the Egyptian lawsuit against Netflix for portraying Cleopatra VII as Black in the documentary series, saying, "I feel sad for them." The series is the second installment in Netflix's African Queens documentary series, which explores female figures of power throughout African history. James, a Black actor, stars as Cleopatra in Queen Cleopatra, which has caused controversy over her portrayal's historical accuracy.

Speaking on The Wayne Ayers Podcast, James responded to the Egyptian lawsuit against Netflix for her role in Queen Cleopatra. She claims the lawsuit is rooted in racism and finds it amusing. Check out James' full statement below:

"I know I shouldn't laugh, but it's quite funny. I think it's quite funny. The level of threat that you must feel, just on my skin tone, to file a lawsuit against an entire streaming service. That to me is really extreme. It's a really extreme reaction,...

Adele James, who plays the titular role in Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docuseries, has addressed the controversy around the project after the Egyptian government criticized the portrayal of the country’s famous ruler as dark-skinned.

“Blackwashing isn’t a thing, is it?” the British actress told The Wayne Ayers Podcast on Wednesday about the controversy over Cleopatra’s race and heritage, which remains a hotly debated subject among historians. “I find it sad that people are either so self-loathing or so threatened by Blackness that they feel the need to do that, to separate Egypt from the rest of the continent,” the Casualty star added.

Netflix declined to comment on the docuseries’ creative choice to cast James, who is of mixed heritage, to play Cleopatra to reflect historical research that points to Egypt’s population in ancient times being multicultural and multiracial.

“Her ethnicity is not the focus of Queen Cleopatra,...

The proverb of “all press is good press” feels almost as old as the Nile. Yet it’s being put to the test this week via the release of Netflix’s African Queens: Cleopatra. The documentary is the second of three from the streaming service and executive producer Jada Pinkett Smith, both of whom have committed to spotlighting women rulers in African history by way of historical reenactments (or “docudrama”) which is then juxtaposed against interviews with talking heads and experts.

Yet the veracity of the documentary aspect of the film is being aggressively challenged after Netflix’s Cleopatra cast Black British actress Adele James as Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last pharaoh of Egypt and the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The trailer even rather proactively includes a line from one of its interviewees, Professor Shelley P. Haley of Hamilton College, who said her grandmother once told her, “I don...

Adele James, star of Netflix's Queen Cleopatra, responds to backlash over her casting in the role of the titular monarch. Queen Cleopatra is a Netflix docudrama that premiered on May 10, following the Egyptian queen over her 21-year rule from 51 BC to 30 BC. The series was accused of "Blackwashing" by casting a Black woman as Cleopatra, with an Egyptian governmental agency, the Supreme Council Of Antiquities (Sca), even going so far as to denounce the casting as being "a blatant historical fallacy."

In an interview with The Wayne Ayers Podcast, James responds to the Blackwashing claims, saying that Queen Cleopatra has been thoroughly researched, and that Cleopatra's race is still a big question among experts. James also condemns the show's backlash, saying that Blackwashing isn't a real issue, and that people often feel the need to separate Egypt as a country from the rest of the African continent. Read James' full response below:

Well,...

Over in Egypt, a new big budget documentary about Cleopatra has been announced as a direct response to the controversial Queen Cleopatra docuseries on Netflix. Produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Cleopatra has been criticized by Egyptians over its casting of Black actress Adele James as the late ruler. Critics argue that Cleopatra was of European descent and it's a "violation of the country's media laws" to portray her as Black. The Egyptian governmental agency called the Supreme Council of Antiquities previously dubbed the Netflix doc as a "falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy."

"Statues of Queen Cleopatra confirm that she had Hellenistic (Greek) features, distinguished by light skin, a drawn-out nose and thin lips," the Egyptian government noted on Twitter.

Now, it's been revealed that the next step has been to make a new documentary that will cast a light-skinned woman to play Cleopatra. Variety reports that the Al Wathaeqya channel,...

The EP behind Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docu-drama has defended the casting of an actor of mixed heritage descent in the title role, stating that Adele James reflects the “multicultural nature of ancient Egypt.”

With Queen Cleopatra premiering today as the second instalment of the African Queens series, Jane Root, who runs the Jada Pinkett Smith-narrated show’s production outfit Nutopia, said Netflix “asked us to promote a conversation and that’s just what has happened.”

The series has been generating headlines aplenty over the past weeks following the Egyptian government’s staunch criticism of James’ casting, with the government insisting that the ancient Queen was likely of Greek descent and would have been fair skinned. The discussion has been debated on the likes of The Daily Show and Piers Morgan’s Talk TV show and, according to the Egypt Independent, the government-backed al-Wathaeqya documentary channel has begun producing...

A government-owned Egyptian broadcaster has responded to controversy over the casting of a Black actress to play Cleopatra in the Netflix docudrama series “African Queens,” which streams from May 10, by announcing production of its own big-budget Cleopatra doc.

The fact that Britain’s Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, plays the first-century Egyptian ruler as a queen with African roots in the Netflix original produced by Jada Pinkett Smith has been sparking an uproar in Egypt. Ever since the trailer dropped last month local academics and others are claiming that Cleopatra, who was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and belonged to a Greek-speaking dynasty, was of European descent and not Black.

In response to what they claim is Netflix’s falsification of Egypt’s history, the Al Wathaeqya channel – which is a subsidiary of Egypt’s state-affiliated United Media Services – has announced start of production...

Queen Cleopatra is a Netflix documentary directed by Tina Gharavi and Victoria Adeola Thomas, starring Adele James, Craig Russell and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Do you remember the Joseph L. Mankiewicz movie, Cleopatra, starring Elisabeth Taylor? Well, absolutely nothing to do with it.

A documentary series that follows in the footsteps of African Queens: Njinga in its treatment and approach to dramatized documentary.

Queen Cleopatra About the series

To say it with (much) subtlety: the series is not a ten, nor a seven… from there, let’s go down and let everyone places it where they want. A series that undoubtedly lacks the means to recreate the grandeur of Ancient Egypt and that, without the actors or the imagination of I, Claudius (the mythical BBC series) pretends to do something similar, but with not enough resources for the choice of a subject so… grandiose.

And with such a brutal and imperial...

Queen Cleopatra is a towering figure in world history who was immortalized by Shakespeare in his tragic play Antony & Cleopatra, a love story of two powerful leaders who succumbed to love and jealousy, or is that what the famous playwright meant through his literature? When we think of Queen Cleopatra, we think of the unmatched beauty of Egypt, who bathed in milk, and we think of Elizabeth Taylor encapsulating the beauty of the Pharaoh in such a way that it is still hard to imagine another actor in the role other than the iconic Hollywood actress. But the new Netflix Original documentary series about the famous Queen of Egypt is not interested in talking just about the doomed love story. Directors Tina Gharavi and Victoria Adeola Thomas tell us the tale of the politician and leader that the Queen was, who managed to stay strong till the end.

The documentary begins with an American professor,...

After sparking controversy regarding one of its cast, Netflix's Queen Cleopatra documentary recently sparked a response from an Egyptian government agency. Black actor Adele James stars as Cleopatra VII Philopator, the legendary North African ruler in a dramatized four-part series detailing her life and reign over Egypt. Immediately following the British actor's cast, Netflix and series director Tina Gharavi immediately received significant backlash accusing the show of blackwashing the historical figure.

Per Deadline, Egyptian governmental agency the Supreme Council Of Antiquities (Sca) has responded to Queen Cleopatra's casting controversy. In a statement released Thursday by Sca Secretary General Mostafa Waziri, the 160-year-old agency attempts to set the record straight regarding Cleopatra VII's ethnicity and race, stating that she "had light skin and Hellenistic (Greek) features," and pointed to early depictions of the queen with "fair skin, drawn nose and thin lips." Read more of what the Sca said below:...

Egypt’s Supreme Council Of Antiquities (Sca) has added its voice to the row over the portrayal of Cleopatra as a Black woman in Netflix’s upcoming docudrama Queen Cleopatra.

The casting of actress Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, as the iconic Ancient Egypt ruler has caused a furore in Egypt where the subject of Cleopatra’s ethnicity is a sensitive subject.

The show, which is executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith, is due to launch on Netflix on May 10.

The 160-year-old Sca, which is responsible for Egypt’s cultural heritage and all its archaeological sites, put out a press release on Thursday giving its reaction to the portrayal of Cleopatra with “African features and dark skin”.

“The Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities confirms that Queen Cleopatra had light skin and Hellenistic (Greek) features,” the body said in the statement posted on the...

“African Queens: Queen Cleopatra” director Tina Gharavi is addressing the casting of biracial Black actress Adele James as the titular Greek-Egyptian ruler.

The trailer for Netflix docuseries “Queen Cleopatra” caused a stir and led to allegations that the streamer was “blackwashing” the heritage of Queen Cleopatra VII. Egyptian scholars claim that Cleopatra, who was born in Egyptian city Alexandria in 69 Bce, was born of European descent and not Black. Historians have confirmed that Cleopatra was Macedonian-Greek on her father Ptolemy Xii’s side but her mother’s ethnic origin is unknown.

Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint with the nation’s public prosecutor to request that Netflix be blocked in Egypt due to the promotion of “Afrocentric thinking” including “slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.” Two petitions to “Cancel Netflix’s ‘Queen Cleopatra’” circulated with more than 88,000 signatures combined.

“Queen Cleopatra” director Gharavi spoke...

Queen Cleopatra director Tina Gharavi recently defended her upcoming Netflix documentary series amid backlash regarding the race of the Egyptian ruler. Black actress Adele James stars as the legendary North African ruler in a four-part dramatized retelling of Cleopatra VII Philopator's historic reign. Due to the show's casting choice, Gharavi and executive producer Jada Pinkett-Smith have received criticism accusing Queen Cleopatra of blackwashing history.

Gharavi defended Queen Cleopatra in Variety, writing a guest column to explain what drew her to the documentary project while tackling the blackwashing backlash head-on. Watching Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor portray the titular queen in Cleopatra (1963) as a child, Gharavi recalled questioning the ruler's heritage, "Was her skin really that white?" After a wealth of research, the director admits to pondering the "political act" of casting Cleopatra with a black actress. "Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister," she asks, "And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white?...

The director of “Queen Cleopatra” is addressing critics.

Last week, Netflix released the trailer for the new drama-documentary series about the iconic Queen of Egypt and drew intense backlash for casting a Black actress as Cleopatra. The series is executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith.

Read More: Gal Gadot Defends ‘Cleopatra’ Casting Against ‘Whitewashing’ Backlash

Writing for Variety, director Tina Gharavi, who is Iranian, directly took on criticisms, recalling, “I remember as a kid seeing Elizabeth Taylor play Cleopatra. I was captivated, but even then, I felt the image was not right. Was her skin really that white?”

It is not known exactly what the real Cleopatra looked like, and heritage has long been a source of debate, often attributed to Macedonian Greeks, but with some claiming Persian and other backgrounds.

“Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress,...

Last summer, I was living in Venice Beach and had decided, due to a friend’s persistence, to visit a fortune teller. Me, ever the sceptic but game for a laugh, agreed to go along. What the fortune teller said made me roll my eyes: “I am not saying you are Cleopatra but somehow you share her story and are connected.”

Less than a month later, I got a call from a production company making Jada Pinkett Smith’s “African Queens” and was subsequently hired to direct four episodes of a drama-documentary on the life of the controversial leader. The joke was on me.

I remember as a kid seeing Elizabeth Taylor play Cleopatra. I was captivated, but even then, I felt the image was not right. Was her skin really that white? With this new production, could I find the answers about Cleopatra’s heritage and release her from...

“African Queens: Queen Cleopatra” is coming under fire for casting a Black biracial actress as the titular Greek-Egyptian ruler.

The docuseries, which premieres May 10, has been slammed for allegedly “blackwashing” the heritage of Queen Cleopatra VII. Egyptian scholars claim that Cleopatra, who was born in Egyptian city Alexandria in 69 Bce, was born of European descent and not Black. Scholars have confirmed that Cleopatra was Macedonian-Greek on her father Ptolemy Xii’s side but her mother’s ethnic origin is unknown. Actress Adele James portrays Cleopatra in the series.

Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint with the nation’s public prosecutor to request that Netflix be blocked in Egypt due to the promotion of “Afrocentric thinking” including “slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.”

Al-Semary alleged that “Queen Cleopatra” violates Egyptian media laws. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass was also quoted by the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper saying that...

Netflix’s upcoming docu-drama “Queen Cleopatra”, in which Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, plays the first-century Egyptian ruler as a queen with African roots, is sparking an uproar in Egypt, reports ‘Variety’.

Egyptian academics are claiming that Cleopatra, who was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 Bce and belonged to a Greek-speaking dynasty, was of European descent and not Black.

An Egyptian lawyer has reportedly filed a complaint demanding that legal measures are taken to block Netflix outright in Egypt, to prevent the show from airing, ‘Variety’ adds. The lawyer claims that the docudrama, which drops on May 10, violates the country’s media laws.

On the choice of casting Adele James as Cleopatra, Netflix’s promotional website Tudum in February quoted Jada Pinkett Smith, the show’s executive producer, as saying that since the queen’s heritage has been the subject of an academic debate, it...

Netflix’s upcoming docudrama “Queen Cleopatra” in which Britain’s Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, plays the first-century Egyptian ruler as a queen with African roots is sparking an uproar in Egypt.

Egyptian academics are claiming that Cleopatra, who was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and belonged to a Greek-speaking dynasty, was of European descent and not Black. An Egyptian lawyer has reportedly filed a complaint demanding that legal measures are taken to block Netflix outright in Egypt, to prevent the show from airing. They claim the docudrama, which drops May 10, violates the country’s media laws.

Netflix did not immediately comment.

Regarding the choice of casting Adele James as Cleopatra, Netflix’s promotional website Tudum in February quoted Jada Pinkett Smith, who is the show’s executive producer, as saying that since the queen’s heritage has been debated, it was “a nod...

Netflix has found itself at the centre of a debate over the casting of Cleopatra in a new documentary series.

Arriving on the streaming service in May, the four-part documentary Queen Cleopatra (a part of the African Queens series) will investigate the life of the Egyptian ruler.

The series is being narrated by actor Jada Pinkett Smith, who said that she wanted to use the show to “represent Black women”.

“We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens… the sad part is that we don’t have ready access to these historical women who were so powerful and were the backbones of African nations,” she told Netflix’sTudum in February.

In Queen Cleopatra, the ruler is portrayed by Casualty star Adele James, who is biracial. Her casting has sparked debate in Egypt, due to the contested nature of the real-life Cleopatra’s racial identity.

Cleopatra...