I've read several biographies/papers/studies about Cleopatra, and in all them she is described as being Greek, fair skin
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Zoe Saldana
QueenCalafia — 15 years ago(September 22, 2010 06:41 PM)
I've read several biographies/papers/studies about Cleopatra, and in all them she is described as being Greek, fair skinned but tanned (with freckles), of small physical stature, with auburn-red hair and green eyes. So really neither actress would be right for the part, oddly enough Liz Taylor (who played cleopatra in the 60s original) was closer in terms of apperance (even though she wore stereotypical black egyptian wigs, which Cleopatra didn't actually wear that often, she was more likely to be wearing her hair like this
Maybe Lady Gaga should play Cleopatra. The hook nose, check. Green eyes, check. -
lemystere — 12 years ago(October 15, 2013 11:58 PM)
I've read several biographies/papers/studies about Cleopatra, and in all them she is described as being Greek, fair skinned but tanned (with freckles), of small physical stature, with auburn-red hair and green eyes.
That description sounds like some women in my family as well as my husband's. Those women, including my mother and grandmother, are/were considered beautiful. Fair skin, freckles, green/hazel eyes, brown/auburn wavy hair, etc. BTW: both my husband and I are African-American, albeit multi-generational, multi-ethnic. With that being said, I have also read and have written papers in college on the subject of Cleopatra, and I am of the opinion that since we do not know who her mother was, we cannot know for certain that she was 100% ethnically Macedonian. People will argue till the cows come home, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter because all human DNA can be traced back to a single African woman. Basically, we all come from the same source. I also don't understand why Hollywood insists on focusing on that woman. She was a massive failure, the last pharaoh who let the kingdom fall, married and killed her own brother (and sister), committed suicide as a last ditch cowardly effort, and her family was inbred up the wazoo. Why create this fantasy that she was the essence of beauty, grace, and strength? The woman was bat-shi7 crazy to say the least. -
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Naughty-God — 15 years ago(October 20, 2010 03:54 PM)
In all fairness to Zoe, AJ played a light-skinned black woman in "A Mighty Heart" (terrible movie btw) and we know AJ doesn't have any African ancestry and everyone did fine after the movie came out so it should be a big deal for someone like Zoe to play Cleopatra.
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LeroyBrown-2 — 15 years ago(November 13, 2010 11:14 AM)
Was she even considered for the part. Ange stole the part if she muscled in while there was talked with Zoe. Let's face it in Hollywood like in most part of the US it's probably Zoe who? She's not even a B-lister.
Badder than old King Kong, Meaner than a Junkyard dog -
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themightyperm — 14 years ago(August 18, 2011 11:10 PM)
the ancient egyptians were ancient egyptian, people didnt have much of a concept of race back then. Egypt is in the both in the Mediterranean and the top of Africa, so people were going to be pretty mixed. You know who looks like Cleopatera does on her coins? Tia and Tamera, their half black half white.
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Seliny19 — 14 years ago(May 16, 2011 07:24 PM)
I think it's more amusing that both black and white people on this board are so desperate to claim a woman who seriously did nothing but open up her legs and screwed a guy twice her age, got knocked up, lusted after the throne, ran right to the next powerful penis in line AKA Mark Antony, got knocked up again, Antony killed himself, and poor poor Cleopatra kills herself because her loverboy died -_____-
I mean if you were all furiously and pathetically trying to claim ancestory and racial bragging rights like school yard children over a STRONG, INDEPENDENT, INTELLIGENT, and USEFUL woman why not claw over Nefertiti, heck even the first Queen Elizabeth. Now THOSE are women who were smart rulers that didn't have to roll themselves up in a freaking carpet to seduce some 50 year old guy. Literally try to look up exactly WHY she is SOOO important to history and you won't find anything good. There is actually very little history on WHY she is important. The ONLY reason she was imporant was because her rule of the Egyptian throne ened in failure, the fall of Egypt, she was the last of the Ptolemies to rule, and her miserable, dumbfounded reign ended in Egypt being conquered and absorbed by the Roman Empire. Might I say EPIC FAIL?! A life mired in failures and beep of drama. That's the only reason why people find her so interesting. DRAMA. And and being a babe apparently. Yea she spoke 9 languages apparently5b4 and was well read. YAWN.
What about Nefertiti, Indira Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa(I don't see huge motion pictures being made about a woman who beep devoted her ENTIRE life to halping sick and dying people)heck even Shirley Ann Jackson. Anyone know who Shirley Ann Jackson was? One of the most INTELLIGENT and I mean freakishly intelligent African American woman to have graced this planet. Look her up if you don't know her. She was the precusor for women who lead in science today. Huge pioneer in physics for women and was the very first African American female to earn a DOCTORATE from MIT. Now why don't the women mentioned above ever get movies made about them or have furious race obsessed losers aruguing over bragging rights on message boards? Because they had no DRAMA in their life, led pretty modest boring lives, changed the world and helped millions of people, kept a low profile, didn't have to open their legs to get their way, and weren't exactly beautiful. You could argue that Nefertiti was beautiful which she was but she supposedly wasn't on the level of good ol Cleopatra. But hey Nefertiti was a radical ruler who iverturned thousands of years of polytheism into Monotheism but hey no one cares about that >_>
Cleopatra is what a modern day Housewife of Atlanta is or whatever those disgusting shows are called. Didn't do much and worshipped by the masses because people love to wonder and revel in th5b4at sappy romance beep that doesn't matter. Shame on any of the women on here from any race for giving Cleopatra the time of day and acting as if she was revolutionary and important to History. Compared to the small handful of women I've mentioned Cleopatra turns to beep when compared to THEIR importance to humanity and their impact on history. So why is NO ONE interested in them or obsess over them so much? The most AMUSING part? If none of you believe me or want to argue about how OMIGOSH important Cleopatra was to history as a woman look at ALLLLLL the threads on the Cleopatra board, here, and elsewhere. Not a single thread dedicated to discuss about her influence as a queen or her historical importance. Why? Because everyone knows she wasn't important and the only thing people can tote around about her is her skin color and beauty?
Cleopatra was too beautiful so there's no way she could be black you gross blackies! Quit claiming her as yours and take your supposed inferiority complexes elsewhere whilst we revel in the importance of a woman who did nothing and led her kingdom to ruin because her skin color is the most important haha!
No way crackas! She was black cause she was beautiful so hands off she's ours!! Quit claming her as yours and take your egomaniacal superiority complexes elswhere whilst we revel in the importance of a woman who did nothing and led her kingdom to ruin because her skin color is the m2000ost important haha!
REALLY? That should PROVE how pathetic all of these arguments are and how you're all wasting your time over a woman you see as not even a person but just some racial trophy to use against each other. Sad. Very sad. It also shows exactly how shallow you all are too. Arguing THIS MUCH to desperately claim her as yours is truly pathetic. At the end of the day most of your who are trying to claim her have absolutely NO TIES to her ancestory. Her family was so obsessed with their own lineage that they inbreeded. Blacks trying to claim her most likely had ancestors they could trace back to West African heritage who were brought over as slaves. Egypt was in North Africa