“I’m so passionate to tell her story and to bring justice to this character and her legacy,” the actress said

Gal Gadot aims to change the perception of Cleopatra in her upcoming movie.

While speaking with Vogue Hong Kong about her new Netflix film Heart of Stone for the magazine’s July issue, Gadot, 38, noted that she grew up understanding the ancient queen Cleopatra as “a household name” in her native Israel, which borders Egypt.

“You know, if Wonder Woman is the imaginary strong female leader, Cleopatra’s actually the real one,” the actress said. “That’s a perfect example of a story that I wanted to tell because I started reading different books about Cleopatra, and I said, wow, that’s fascinating.”

“All I ever saw in regards to Cleopatra from film was that she was this seductive woman who had an affair with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony,” she added.

In Gadot’s view, Cleopatra — the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt and a descendant of Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who served under Alexander the Great — was “so ahead of her time.”

“Egypt and what Egypt was back then, was still futuristic to where we are today. I can’t say much,” the actress said of her upcoming movie, which has not yet entered production. “But to me, I’m so passionate to tell her story and to bring justice to this character and her legacy and celebrate her and her legacy.”

She added, “We have a beautiful script, and I cannot wait to share this story with the world and change the narrative of Cleopatra simply being a seductor.”

Gal Gadot. COREY NICKOLS/GETTY FOR IMDB

Gadot was first attached to the project covering Cleopatra’s life back in 2020, when Deadline reported the actress would team up with her Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins for the film. Kari Skogland (The Falcon and The Winter Soldier) is now the film’s director, with Jenkins still listed as a producer on the project after a change of plans in December 2021.

“I can’t reveal a lot, but I can tell you that we’re going to celebrate the Cleopatra story,” Gadot told InStyle of the film in January 2022. “We’re going to show not just how sexy and appealing she was, but how strategic and smart, and how much impact she had and still has on the world we’re living in today.”

“I’ve watched all the Cleopatra movies throughout history,” she added, “but I feel like we’re telling the story the world needs to hear now.”

AMY SUSSMAN/GETTY

Elizabeth Taylor starred in 1963’s Cleopatra, which cost 20th Century Fox $31 million and nearly bankrupted the studio at the time. The film went on to win four Oscars.

Gadot weathered some criticism that her casting as Cleopatra was “whitewashing” after the film was first announced in 2020, though she noted at the time that the ancient Egyptian queen was actually of Macedonian descent.

“We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra,” Gadot, whom IMDb lists as responsible for the film’s story and as a producer along with her husband Jaron Varsano, told BBC Arabic at the time. “She wasn’t there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra.”