David Fincher to Turn his Lens to “Cleopatra”?

David Fincher to Turn his Lens to “Cleopatra”?

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

OK, so he may not have won the coveted Oscar, but David Fincher has still been fairly successful lately, and it’s nice to see that his career shows no signs of slowing. He’s committed to directing the American adaptation of the popular novel “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” and rumor has it that he may be helming Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”

However, according to Deadline, Fincher may now be in talks for yet another project: a biopic of Cleopatra, starring Angelina Jolie.

This film has been in the works for a year or so now; James Cameron and Paul Greengrass were previously mentioned as potential directors, but with those two moving on to different projects—two “Avatar” sequels for Cameron, a Martin Luther King, Jr. film for Greengrass—the movie needs to find someone else to step behind the camera.

Obviously, this news doesn’t mean that Fincher is even close to being confirmed for the gig, but we’re happy to hear that he might be in the running. Everyone know’s he’s a talented director, but he spends a lot of his time focusing on male subjects. It will be interesting to see how he tackles a film with a female protagonist in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”; if he handles that well, maybe he’ll be a good fit for “Cleopatra.”

Then again, “Dragon Tattoo” is simply the first installment of a trilogy, and if Fincher is to handle all three films in the series, he may not have the time to tackle this project.

Either way, it is a film which Angelina Jolie seems dedicated to getting off the ground, and we’d be surprised if she didn’t have the clout to get the picture made eventually. If Fincher doesn’t end up taking control, we just hope the material falls into the hands of someone who will handle it well.