Arguably the most famous face, at least lips, in the world, Angelina Jolie, has signed on to play the legendary queen of the Nile, Cleopatra.

Producer of the film, Scott Rudin, said that he is developing the historical biography into a movie from a book "for and with Jolie". The book in was written by Stacy Schiff, entitled 'Cleopatra: A Life', which was published by Little, Brown. A representative from the publishing house, Michael Pietsch, confirms the news to UsMagazine.com.

He told Us, "Angelina Jolie radiates grace and power, exactly the qualities that Stacy Schiff finds in her biography of the most intriguing ruler who ever lived." The author of the book, Schiff, said "I think [Jolie] be perfect for it and I can see a possible Oscar in her future."

However, all is not well as since the announcement earlier last week, Rudin and Schiff's pick of who Jolie as queen of the Nile has been met with plenty of criticism mainly from the African-American communities. Numerous blogs and message boards online opined that the role has been whitewashed and that an actress of colour should be playing the character instead.

Essence.com even has a specific story addressing the issue - "Another White Actress to Play Cleopatra?". In it, the author writes, "Honestly, I don't care how full Angelina Jolie's lips are, how many African children she adopts, or how bronzed her skin will become for the film, I firmly believe this role should have gone to a black woman."

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The writer continued, "Were Vanessa Williams, Halle Berry and Thandie Newton unavailable for auditions that day? Why does Hollywood think it's even slightly plausible to cast white women in roles that would be more sensible to cast a black actress for? Especially when that role is an African queen."

To date, as Clutchmagonline.com pointed out, the role of the Egyptian queen has always been played by a Caucasian actress, most notably by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 production of 'Cleopatra'.

Interestingly, this would not be the first time Jolie has faced backlash for playing a woman of colour. The Oscar-winning actress was cast as Marianne Pearl, who is Afro-Cuban/Dutch, in the biopic 'A Mighty Heart'.

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