{"id":32354,"date":"2023-04-21T14:24:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T12:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1820475"},"modified":"2023-04-21T17:08:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T15:08:15","slug":"cleopatra-director-speaks-out-after-backlash-to-casting-black-actress","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/cleopatra-director-speaks-out-after-backlash-to-casting-black-actress\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleopatra director speaks out after backlash to casting Black actress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Casualty star Adele James is playing the legendary Egyptian queen in a new Netflix docudrama. <\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 21 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The director of the upcoming Netflix<\/a> docudrama Queen Cleopatra<\/a> has addressed backlash about casting a Black actress to play the lead role \u2013 explaining that \u201cit\u2019s more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele [James] than Elizabeth Taylor ever did\u201d.<\/p>\n

Casualty star James was announced as the lead for the series earlier in April, but the casting was met with backlash in Egypt \u2013 with one lawyer even filing a lawsuit<\/a> against Netflix, accusing the streamer of trying to \u201cerase the Egyptian identity\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, in a new piece for Variety<\/a>, director Tina Gharavi hit back at those critics, explaining that she realised \u201cwhat a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress\u201d while researching the project.<\/p>

\u201cFor me, the idea that people had gotten it so incredibly wrong before \u2014 historically, from Theda Bara to Monica Bellucci, and recently, with Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot in the running to play her \u2014 meant we had to get it even more right,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cAfter much hang-wringing and countless auditions, we found in Adele James an actor who could convey not only Cleopatra\u2019s beauty but also her strength. What the historians can confirm is that it is more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele than Elizabeth Taylor ever did.\u201d<\/p>\n

More specifically addressing the backlash with Variety, Gharavi explained that she became the focus of an online hate campaign after being accused by some of \u2018blackwashing\u2019 and \u2018stealing\u2019 Egyptian history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of reasoning or reminders that Arab invasions had not yet happened in Cleopatra\u2019s age seemed to stem the tide of ridiculous comments,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

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