Cleopatra Remade?

Quirky director Steven Soderbergh has decided to make a rock-and-roll version of Cleopatra, and he's signed actress Welsh actress Catherine -Zeta Jones in the title role. And he's trying to find $30 million in financing.

Actually that's small potatoes compared to the 1963 movie starrring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, which cost far more in real dollars. (Taylor's salary alone would have been more than $45 million in today's dollars.)

Despite its enormous box office success, the movie nearly put 20th Century Fox out of business with delays, budget overruns and the worldwide scandal touched off by the stars' torrid and very public affair. (Seems kind of quaint now, doesn't it?) Nevertheless, the 1963 film returned about half its cost.

Maybe a rock-and-roll remake will do better. Good luck with that, Steven!

by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images