Tough Women To Crack

I’ve said before that I think having Angelia Jolie play Cleopatra is a mistake, both from a distraction factor, and because Cleopatra may not have been an actual babe and an interpretation that explored her charisma would be vastly more interesting than ZOMG HOTTTT. The rumor that James Cameron is directing her gives me some vague hope for what I still think will be a silly project.Cameron can’t and won’t make Jolie any less stunning. But he will likely make her more than just pretty. The character’s got more backstory and substance to her than Rose DeWitt Bukater did in Titantic, and Cameron imbued that character with plenty of pathos and sentimental pale fire. He’s not afraid of brusqueness and unpleasantness: the character sketches in Avatar may not have been exceptionally deep, but aside from Jake, there was much more to all of the women than there was to any of the men. Cleopatra will need a touch of unpleasantness, and probably a great deal more than that, to be compelling on-screen. Lately, I’ve been thinking of her as a somewhat-more-competent-but-less-crazy Cersei Lannister. I’d like to see Cameron and Jolie sell that.