‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Director Kari Skogland Replaces Patty Jenkins As Director Of Gal Gadot’s ‘Cleopatra’
According to Deadline, Patty Jenkins stepped down from the position of director on Paramount’s Cleopatra, and Kari Skogland signed to replace her.
Paramount officially announced the Cleopatra movie last year with Jenkins signed to direct and Gal Gadot signed to star in a titular role. Jenkins and Gadot previously worked together on the DC movie Wonder Woman and its sequel Wonder Woman 1984.
The project was announced in October 2020. Two months after that, Disney officially announced Rogue Squadron, a Star Wars movie with Jenkins attached to direct. And shortly after the release of Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas, Warner Bros. announced that Jenkins will return to direct Wonder Woman 3 with Gal Gadot reprising the role. That’s three big projects announced for Jenkins in only two months.
Since Jenkins had too much on her plate, she decided to clear her schedule a bit. Rogue Squadron, which was set to start production next year for the release in December 2023, was recently delayed indefinitely, but it’s still moving forward. Now, Jenkins stepped down from the director’s position on Cleopatra so that she can focus on Wonder Woman 3, for which the script is in development.
Jenkins will remain on the Cleopatra project as a producer, and Kari Skogland will now sit in the director’s chair. Gal Gadot is still attached to star.
Skogland is most known for her work on The Handmaid’s Tale, for which she was nominated for Emmy. Her most recent project was Marvel’s Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, for which she directed all six episodes.
Laeta Kalogridis is developing the script for Cleopatra. The movie will be produced by Charles Roven, Jenkins, Gadot, and Jaron Varsano, Gadot’s husband. Paramount Pictures will distribute the movie. The release date is still TBA.
