‘Queen Cleopatra’ Director Tina Gharavi Responds To Backlash Over Black Cleopatra

The EP behind Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docu-drama has defended the casting of an actor of mixed heritage descent in the title role, stating that Adele James reflects the “multicultural nature of ancient Egypt.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent A government-owned Egyptian broadcaster has responded to controversy over the casting of a Black actress to play Cleopatra in the Netflix docudrama series “African Queens,” which streams from May 10, by announcing production of its own big-budget Cleopatra doc. The fact that Britain’s Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, plays the first-century Egyptian ruler as a queen with African roots in the Netflix original produced by Jada Pinkett Smith has been sparking an uproar in Egypt. Ever since the trailer dropped last month local academics and others are claiming that Cleopatra, who was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and belonged to a Greek-speaking dynasty, was of European descent and not Black.

Adele James is breaking her silence about the controversy over her upcoming Netflix series, Queen Cleopatra.

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“The Daily Show” guest host Dulcé Sloan isn’t buying it.To kick off her week guest-hosting the show, Sloan mocked Egyptian officials for their outrage, after they claimed the ancient queen was actually “fair-skinned” and Greek.“Oh, OK. Egypt is concerned about ‘historical accuracy.’ I didn’t hear you complain when all them ‘Mummy’ movies came out,” Sloan mocked. “What are you talking about? We got mummies coming back from the dead, chasing Brendan Fraser, and y’all don’t have a problem,” she continued.

When former EastEnders actor John Partridge took on the role of Julius Caesar in Jada Pinkett Smith’s new Netflix docudrama about the life of Queen Cleopatra, he thought its modern storytelling would stir controversy. But even John, 52 – who has worked in showbusiness for more than three decades – was taken aback by the extremity of views against the new series. In fact, ever since the programme was announced, members of the cast have been sent a barrage of horrendous messages over why Adele James, a mixed-race actress, has been cast as Cleopatra.

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The controversy over Netflix‘s Queen Cleopatra limited series is getting more dramatic.

Egypt’s Supreme Council Of Antiquities (SCA) has added its voice to the row over the portrayal of Cleopatra as a Black woman in Netflix’s upcoming docudrama Queen Cleopatra.

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Tina Gharavi is speaking out about portraying Cleopatra as black in the upcoming Netflix mini-series, Queen Cleopatra.

Netflix‘s upcoming docudrama Queen Cleopatra has addressed the backlash over casting a Black actress in the lead role.Casualty star Adele James was announced as the lead of the series in April, but criticism soon followed in Egypt, with many accusing the docudrama of “blackwashing” the country’s history. One lawyer even filed lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the series had contradicted and distorted Egyptian history in favour of promoting Afrocentrism.However, in a new piece for Variety, director Tina Gharayi hit back at critics, arguing “it’s more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele than Elizabeth Taylor,” who famously portrayed the historical figure in 1963’s Cleopatra.“For me, the idea that people had gotten it so incredibly wrong before — historically, from Theda Bara to Monica Bellucci, and recently, with Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot in the running to play her — meant we had to get it even more right,” wrote Gharayi.“Why shouldn’t 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.”She continued: “After much hang-wringing and countless auditions, we found in Adele James an actor who could convey not only Cleopatra’s beauty but also her strength.

Tina Gharavi Guest Contributor Last summer, I was living in Venice Beach and had decided, due to a friend’s persistence, to visit a fortune teller. Me, ever the sceptic but game for a laugh, agreed to go along. What the fortune teller said made me roll my eyes: “I am not saying you are Cleopatra but somehow you share her story and are connected.” Less than a month later, I got a call from a production company making Jada Pinkett Smith’s “African Queens” and was subsequently hired to direct four episodes of a drama-documentary on the life of the controversial leader. The joke was on me. I remember as a kid seeing Elizabeth Taylor play Cleopatra. I was captivated, but even then, I felt the image was not right. Was her skin really that white? With this new production, could I find the answers about Cleopatra’s heritage and release her from the stranglehold that Hollywood had placed on her image?

previously explained that she wanted to be involved in the project because she “really wanted to represent Black women.”But Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, who previously served as the nation’s antiquities minister, is not happy with the “completely fake” portrayal of the famous queen, who he claims was wholly Greek — and “not black.” He’s accused Netflix of “trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilization is black.”“Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black,” the archaeologist told the Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper, per a BBC report on Wednesday.In addition, lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint Sunday with the country’s public prosecutor to demand that Netflix be blocked in Egypt, claiming they are trying to “promote the Afrocentric thinking … which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.”A petition titled “Cancel Netflix’s ‘Queen Cleopatra'” has more than 3,200 signatures on Change.org. Another petition for the cause that allegedly garnered 85,000 signatures was meanwhile removed from Change.org.