Expectant fans of the new Gladiator II film were shocked to learn after its box office open that Egyptian-Palestinian actress May Calamawy was completely eliminated from the final cut.
Calamaway was widely anticipated to be one of the major female leads in the film. When fans could not find her anywhere in the movie, cries started to emerge that perhaps this was an act of anti-Palestinianism by Hollywood.
It could simply be that there was too much footage so filmmakers had to make some cuts – the final movie was still two and a half hours in length. Or, as others are suggesting, Calamaway's outspoken support for the people of Gaza got her canned from the end product.
The film was still in production when the events of Oct. 7, 2023, occurred, prompting Israel to launch a full-scale war on Gaza. Calamaway was posting pro-Palestine content to social media at the time.
Calamaway was first announced to be in the film back in May 2023, before October 7. Arab and Middle Eastern audiences were excited to learn that she had been cast, this after seeing her in Marvel Studios' Moon Knight and the Hulu series Ramy.
(Related: Did you know that a lot of the so-called "news" is just Israeli propaganda pushing a Zionist agenda?)
Anti-Palestinian bias in Hollywood?
In The Deadline article announcing Calamaway's casting, director Ridley Scott was mentioned for how meticulous he was in choosing the female lead role. Before choosing Calamaway, Ridley conducted "a thorough search" for her, which is why people are now asking why was she not in the final film?
Check out the tweet below from A Shot from back on July 9, 2023, months before October 7. Notice that Calamaway is shown kissing Paul Mescal, which led many people to believe that she was going to be the film's main character's love interest:
May Calamawy and Paul Mescal in ‘GLADIATOR 2’. pic.twitter.com/UYykQrt7Ar
— A Shot. (@ashotmagazine) July 9, 2024
Calamaway still sort of ended up in the film. She had no lines and is almost impossible to spot, but she does appear in the background of a few scenes. So what happened?
Interestingly, Calamaway was replaced in Gladiator II by Yuval Ronen, an Israeli actress. Since Calamaway and Ronen both appeared in a photograph together that was taken during filming before October 7, it could simply be a coincidence that this change-out occurred – or is it?
Many people who were planning to go see Gladiator II because of Calamaway are upset, as evidenced by a torrent of complaints on social media.
"If the rumours of May Calamawy being cut from Gladiator II to be replaced by Yuval Gonen are true, then this sequel is already a loss of integrity," wrote someone on X / Twitter.
"You can't make movies about the bravery of slaves rising up to freedom and carry out tone-deaf revisionism in IMAX," wrote another.
Me after getting caught sneaking out of Universal with the Calamawy cut under my shirt pic.twitter.com/YYd4SUqtmV
— Zach ? (@Zachrdoodle) November 15, 2024
In response to an account claiming that Calamaway appears in "4-5 scenes" and "accompanies Denzel Washington in several locations," someone else noted that Calamaway had no dialogue and was not invited to the London premiere of the film on November 13 even though she was already going to be in town for the Winter Comic Con.
Another wrote that this kind of thing happens all the time in Hollywood and is a normal part of moviemaking to have a character get trimmed in order to fit the story into a certain length. What do you think?
The latest news about the Israel-Palestine conflict can be found at Prophecy.news.
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