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Get up to date on Hollywood’s latest retelling of the Cleopatra legend

Do we really need to open up this tomb again? True, there have been more than 50 films featuring the ancient queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt — most famously Elizabeth Taylor’s 1963 epic Cleopatra. But after years of trying, a new project from producer Scott Rudin promises to have a totally different spin.

What does this version have that Carry On Cleo didn’t? It’s being pitched as less prestige epic, more thriller. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter David Scarpa (All The Money In The World) promised a “lean, mean political thriller” with “lots of people swearing and having sex”.

Game Of Thrones in Egypt, then? Perhaps. Radically, however, Scarpa plans to pivot it from Cleopatra’s point of view. “So many narratives of Cleopatra have been framed through the eyes of men,” he told Collider.

Who’s our new queen? Angelina Jolie has been rumoured, but rumblings about whitewashing (the real queen was thought to be Greek-african) may yet put paid to that.

And who’s directing? Denis Villeneuve. Fresh from Blade Runner 2049, the director reportedly has this on his slate — plus a reboot of Dune and an adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s The Son. Could it be an epoch before we see Cleopatra again?