Our brain is simply spinning with the news that Steven Soderbergh is planning on making a 3-D rock musical about Egyptian sexpot ruler Cleopatra. First, the casting: Variety reports today that Mr. Soderbergh is sniffing around Catherine Zeta-Jones to take on the role, previously held by both Claudette Colbert (in 1934) and Elizabeth Taylor (1963) with Hugh Jackman stepping into the gladiator sandals, once filled by Richard Burton, to play Marc Anthony. We can sort of see Ms. Zeta-Jones rocking the eyeliner, can’t you? But then, there’s the music, which will be provided by Guided by Voices. Guided by Voices! Could this be as exciting as when Shudder to Think wrote all those songs for Velvet Goldmine? Anyway, the budget for "Cleo" is slated for $30 million and is going to get shopped around for financing within the next two weeks. Mr. Soderbergh’s four-hour epic Che recently played at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival (threatening bladders eveywhere) and he recently finished filming on the Matt Damon vehicle The Informant, in addition to working a Liberace film project for Warner Brothers where Mr. Damon plays the companion to Michael Douglas’s Liberace. If only that could be in 3-D.
