Sunday, June 20, 2010

Angie and Sulaf

There is a big debate now abroad about whether Angelina Jolie was a good casting choice for the upcoming Cleopatra film , it is in fact an old debate about Cleopatra's color and race.
Angie in Alexander
This Ramadan Arab channels will air the epic TV series about the Egyptian Queen that has been fascinating the world for a very long time starring the beautiful Syrian star Sulaf Fawakherji who is the producer by the way. For sure those who are against Angie , will be against her.


Sulaf as Cleo




If we put historical accuracy and race debate thing , I will choose Angelina over Sulaf despite my fears that Angelina would repeat her bad accent acting in Alexander. I will choose Angelina because I know we will not see her son Maddox as Ptolemy XIII !!    Sulaf and her hubby have insisted on casting their Son Hamza as Ptolemy XIII despite his young age !! Yes the kid will play his mother's brother and husband too in the TV series. Of course the Syrian diva is speaking in the media now before Ramadan on how it was difficult and hard to consider her son as her nemesis in front of the camera !!

Liz as Cleo 
There is no doubt that Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra had raised the bar and set the standards for any Hollywood producer or any director in casting any actress,Sulaf and Angelina are just another bad imitation from Liz Taylor. Hollywood for sure is biased for looks and I will not be surprised if after 20 years we find Megan Fox as the next Queen of the Nile !!! 
Now to speak about the race and color debate , Cleopatra was from the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty which means we are speaking about a Mediterranean look, yet according to history the dynasty mingled with the Egyptians so we are speaking about a mix Mediterranean between north African look , which is the look of modern Egyptian now : a fair colored skin. Beautiful late Soad Hosni may Allah bless her soul would have been a fantastic Cleopatra.
Soad Hosni as Cleo in Zeezee's family

I do not know why we have this conversation in the 21st century and why African Americans are angry from Cleopatra's skin color deception , already history is not to be taken from films and again I will say that Africa does not need a Black Cleopatra in the first place to prove its greatness. Historically Cleopatra was more smart than beautiful , her attractiveness was not in her looks but in her mind and this for me is more than her skin color.
I hope that next film produced about the famous and legendary Queen of the Nile would portray her as a smart woman not a beautiful woman.
Ironically no one asked the opinions of Egyptians in this debate as usual but of course most Egyptians especially men will not say no to Sulaf or Angelina or any beautiful woman as Cleopatra.

11 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I perefectly agree with you dear .She is the producer what do you expect then??!!!

    Btw I wrote about it 3 months ago on my blog..did you read it ??

    http://reeeshkalam.blogspot.com/2010/03/blog-post_10.html

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  3. Why not Jihan Fadel? It depends what age you want her to be portayed in the movie I guess, but Ms. Fadel is a gorgeous woman of her age, a fine actress, and the icing on the cake -- she's Egyptian.

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  4. "...it is in fact an old debate about Cleopatra's color and race."

    There is? I thought it was pretty well established she was Greek/Macedonian from this dynasty:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty

    Are people disputing the history as it is recorded, or are people just playing bullshit political games?

    Whatever Cleopatra's ethnicity was, she damn sure wasn't ARAB :p

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  5. @Craig: Of course we must have the usual ignorant and racist comment from you on any thing and every thing God. Now we all understand better why you are so ignorant if you wikipedia is your main source for info.
    Yes there is a debate about her skin-color between Egyptologists and Afro-centric Historians. The identity of her mother is not known and so one of the theories is that her mother was of African origin, hence her dark skin.
    There is even debate about her looks and more recent theories are that she wasnt as beautiful as claimed, she was actually short and with a hook-like nose but apparently charming and she used that charm as her weapon since she couldnt compete with the military might of the Romans.
    One thing for sure she viewed Egypt as her country and that is what matters to us as Egyptians, what she did to try and save the country and her ppl is what is important not her story with Antonio, dressed up as a romantic love story while it probably had a lot to do with saving the country as well.
    Get over your hating Arabs, if one thing you need to realize they had their positive contributions to the region and the World as much as all others, no race is better.

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  6. I opt for Zeinat Sidky for Cleopatra's role!

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  7. @Jason: last Anon is clearly joking

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  8. @Jason: Where is your sense of humor?

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  9. both sulaf and angelina are just another imitation for elizabeth taylor i agree with you in this point dark hair white skin beautiful green or blue eyes but infact they are not just beautiful angelina is very beautiful sexy and very intelligent woman sulaf who is more an innocent beauty than sexy also is very wise and smart
    cleopatra is known for being an incredebly intelligent woman .

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