Cleopatra Circling Around David Fincher

Casting News, News, Rumors

After James Cameron dropped out of Cleopatra to helm two Avatar sequels, and Paul Greengrass passed for Memphis, finding someone to helm Cleopatra has been on Sony’s mind. Deadline Hollywood is reporting exclusively that the biopic with Angelina Jolie attached to it might have found a director: David Fincher.
Oscar nominated most recently for The Social Network, as well as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fincher is currently finishing up the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He is attached to film the sequels, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest contingent on the first film’s success.

As Mike Fleming points out the key issue may be timing; trying to squeeze this film as well as the Captain Nemo film he’s attached to on top of the Milennium series might be nearly impossible. But it would give him the opportunity to work with Jolie after working with her husband a handful of times already; he’s managed to get great performances out of plenty of leading actors and he might be the one to get another great one out of Jolie.

Cleopatra seems to be an ideal film for her but comes with some baggage, already having been one of Hollywood’s most infamous production tales. But with Fincher and Jolie, as well as Stacy Schiff’s bestselling book “Cleopatra: A Life” as source material, we could see a Cleopatra on the screen that’s more intriguing than Elizabeth Taylor’s version.

What do you think? Is Fincher the right director or is there someone else who would make more sense?