Steven Soderbergh may direct 'Cleo' as a 3-D musical

This apparently isn't a joke: Steven Soderbergh is plotting a 3-D, live-action rock-n-roll musical about Cleopatra to possibly star Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Or if it is a joke, both industry trade papers have been duped into reporting on it.

According to the trades, "Cleo" would star Zeta-Jones as the famous Egyptian queen, with Hugh Jackman as her lover Marc Antony.

Think it sounds odd so far? Apparently the $30 million period pic will include songs written by beloved indie rock legends Guided by Voices and has been scripted by GBV veteran James Greer.

Want things to get even odder? "Cleo" will actually be a reimagining of well-known story, perplexingly updated to the 1920s.

What can we say? We're intrigued.

Financing and distribution aren't set for "Cleo," so it's unclear when Soderbergh would be able to get around to the film.

The busy "Traffic" Oscar winner has the two-part "Che" opening later this year and "The Informant" hitting theaters in March. Soderbergh was recently linked to a Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas. That film, like "Cleo," will have to wait until Soderbergh shoots "The Girlfriend Experience," an ultra-low budget effort that will mark the second film in the director's six-picture deal with 2929.

Both stars have song-and-dance experience.

Zeta-Jones, who co-starred in Soderbergh's "Traffic" and "Ocean's Twelve," won an Oscar for "Chicago."

A Tony winner for "The Boy From Oz," Jackman also got musical in his short-lived CBS series " Viva Laughlin."