Actresses Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie are vying for a chance to play Queen of Egypt Cleopatra in a big-budget film reboot.
Oscar winner Jolie, 43, has been in talks for months with studio bosses at Sony over playing the part, which was essayed by Elizabeth Taylor in a 1963 film.
But Gaga, 32, is now also in the running following the success of ‘A Star Is Born’, her big screen debut as a leading lady.
“Cleopatra was known as the Queen of the Nile, and Elizabeth Taylor firmly established herself as Hollywood’s queen in the 1963 film version,” a senior production source at Sony said. “There’s every reason to think that whoever gets to play her this time round is going to enjoy an equally lofty perch in the motion picture industry.”
‘Cleopatra’ won four Academy Awards and sparked controversy over Taylor’s on-set affair with co-star Richard Burton. They later wed and divorced twice.
It was billed at the time as an “epic historical drama”, but Sony’s new ‘Cleopatra’ is being touted by producers as a “dirty, bloody political thriller told from a feminist perspective”.
The source said it could be so close between Jolie and Gaga that “both of them will have to audition — a pretty rare ask of an A-list star”.