A new film about Cleopatra starring Angelina Jolie has been bouncing around Hollywood for almost a decade, but rumors have been swirling this month that Lady Gaga is now competing to crash Jolie's dreams of playing the legendary Queen of Ancient Egypt.

Back on Jan. 4, OK! Magazine claimed sources told the tabloid that Gaga is "vying" for the role, following her success in Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born.

"Angie has wanted to work on the film for a very long time, but it looks like she’s going to have to go up against Lady Gaga for the lead," the insider said. “Gaga feels like she’s at the perfect point in her career to tackle a role like this."

Over the weekend, The Daily Star published another report, this time with a comment from a "senior production source at Sony."

"Cleopatra was known as the Queen of the Nile, and Elizabeth Taylor firmly established herself as Hollywood's queen in the 1963 film version," the source allegedly said. "There's every reason to think that whoever gets to play her this time round is going to enjoy an equally lofty perch in the motion picture industry."

The source also claimed that the race between Jolie and Gaga is "so close" that "both of them will have to audition - a pretty rare ask of an A-list star."

Cleopatra has been stuck in development hell at Sony since 2010, with directors David Finger, James Cameron, Paul Greengrass and Ang Lee all reportedly interested at one point. In 2013, Lee, the Oscar-winning director of Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain, told The Hollywood Reporter he thought he was perfect for him.

"I'm about to read the script," Lee said at the time. "It just feels right to me after all the other types of films I've done. What does it have in common with any of them? They’re all totally different! That’s what makes this perfect.”

However, nothing came of that. In September 2017, Variety reported that Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve was in "early talks" to direct the project. He is now working on Dune.

Cleopatra is one of the most famous ancient figures and is estimated to have led Egypt from 51 BC to 30 BC. She has appeared in countless films, television shows, plays and books. The most famous Hollywood adaptations featured Claudette Colbert in the 1934 Cleopatra and Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 Cleopatra.

The new film will be based on Stacy Schiff's 2010 book Cleopatra: A Life.

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