This film version shouldn't be mistaken for the one being produced by Sony Pictures with director Denis Villeneuve. This film version from Paramount Pictures is based on historical mythology, while Sony's take is based on the Stacy Schiff biography.
In October 2020, Paramount won the rights in an intense bidding war that included Universal, Netflix, Apple and Warner Bros. But in June 2022, Paramount dropped it and reportedly Universal was looking at picking it up.
This will be Gal Gadot's first writing credit for a film as she's the one who came up with the take of the story for this film version's interpretation of Cleopatra's narrative.
This was originally going to be the third collaboration between Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot with their prior films being Wonder Woman (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), while Laeta Kalogridis wrote an unused Wonder Woman script.
Starting in 2021, the film began suffering from production delays and problems, including losing director Patty Jenkins and studio Paramount dropping it. Ironically, the 1963 production of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor as the queen with Richard Burton as Mark Antony, also went through similar problems due to numerous shooting scandals, including director and cast changes. That led to the film becoming the most expensive production in Hollywood history at the time. But the massive star power of Taylor and Burton helped the film become a big success. Insiders have pointed out that Gal Gadot doesn't possess the talent or popularity needed to make her production a success after its production issues.