Cleopatra Biography Author Speaks At The Free Library
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The author of a new biography on Queen Cleopatra will read from her book, Cleopatra: A Life, tonight at the Central Branch of the Free Library. Her book is the basis for a movie starring Angelina Jolie.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff says she feels Jolie is perfect to play the last Queen of Egypt, and she wouldn't mind seeing Brad Pitt play Mark Antony. And although she provided director James Cameron with some materials, she won't be having much more to do with the film. As for her biography, she says Cleopatra still presented her with some surprises:
"I hadn't counted on being able to find her voice. There's a very sly, very saucy voice, especially in her dealings with Marc Antony. And there's a humor, two thousand years later, there's a humor that still shines through. There's a real sense of her being in charge, being very smart economically and having a strategic vision."
Stacy Schiff is at the Free Library (19th and Vine), thanks to the Franklin Institute, because of the exhibit, "Cleopatra: the Search for the Last Queen of Egypt," at the Franklin through January 2nd. The reading begins at 7:30 PM.
Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio.
