Zeta Jones to play Cleo

Catherine Zeta Jones is in discussions to play Cleopatra in a forthcoming 3D musical of her life.

Steven Soderbergh is set to direct the £19 million project – which is to be transferred from Egypt to 1920s America, according to the Hollywood Reporter,

Currently entitled Cleo – it would mark the director's Soderbergh's first foray into the musical genre.

Zeta Jones, on the other hand, is no stranger to the musical form, having scooped an Academy Award for her portrayal of murderess Velma in 2002's Chicago.

X-Men star Hugh Jackman is reportedly also in talks to play her Roman lover Marc Anthony.

Zeta Jone's husband Michael Douglas is currently working with Soderbergh on a film about the life of flamboyant musician Liberace.

His past work includes Erin Brockovich and Traffic, for which he won an Oscar, while his two-part biopic of Che Guevara is also scheduled for release early next year.

The role of the Egyptian queen was famously played by Elizabeth Taylor in 1963.

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