Cleo Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh may be one of the most respected men in the business, but even he seems to have trouble finding a little extra cash these days. Now we all know what happened with is true-life sports tale, Moneyball, but by all accounts that isn't the only film that he is having trouble securing funding for. But on the bright side, it turns out it was much easier to sell studios a sexy spy thriller than it was a tale of number-crunchers. According to Variety, Lionsgate has snapped up Soderbergh's next slated flick, Knockout and secured financing for the action drama with Relativity Media offering to foot the bill.

The film is being described as in the "vein of La Femme Nikita" and will star Gina Carano. Soderbergh will be working with Lem Dobbs, who also worked on The Limey to write the script. Now Carano might be a household name for fans of Mixed Martial Arts, but for the world at large, a lead role in a Soderbergh film will probably be a much better introduction for the famed fighter. The director seems to be continuing to hire 'non-traditional' actors in his films, and if Soderbergh is looking to save some cash, luckily Carano will be able to do her own stunts.

As strange as a 'Soderbergh action film' may sound, it's hardly the wackiest idea he's had lately. After the jump; status reports on two of Soderbergh's other films...

Here's the first good news of 2009! Variety reports that Hugh Jackman is now off the official wishlist for Cleo, the Steven Soderbergh musical that will reportedly star Catherine Zeta-Jones as the legendary Egyptian queen, and feature the music penned by Guided by Voices.

Jackman has apparently left talks not because of the concept, but due to a scheduling conflict. (Maybe it's Drive, since everything else has vanished from his IMDB page.) Ray Winstone remains in discussion to play Julius Caesar, and Zeta-Jones is still rumored to be Cleopatra herself.

I may be one of the few celebrating the news. I know Soderbergh is a master of taking preposterous concepts and turning them into cinematic brilliance, but a Cleopatra rock musical just sounds like a spectacularly bad idea. Jackman is a wonderful stage performer, and I've been dying to see him in a movie musical for years. (If you've never seen his pre-Wolverine turn in Oklahoma!, do yourself a favor and rent it now.) But not this one -- Soderbergh or not, it just sounds too campy to be believed.

Since Variety is stumped as to what caused the schedule conflict, I'll make a New Year's wish and hope his production shingle has decided to really get moving on that remake of Carousel. Jackman has had the rights to it for awhile, and to see him singing and dancing in that is ten times better than seeing him as a rocking Mark Antony.

In October, Eric D. Snider shared the wildly strange and awesome news that Steven Soderbergh was following uber-long biopics with a rock-singing Cleopatra in three dimensions. Soderbergh had set his sights on two unsurprising leads -- Catherine Zeta Jones and Hugh Jackman (Marc Antony). But that left one major hole to fill -- the sandals of Caesar himself.

According to MTV, that honor will be given to Ray motherfrakking Winstone. The thought of him playing the iconic figure in a rock opera -- it just sounds too good to be true. Anyhow, the filmmaker went on to say that this will be a period piece shot on backlots, and explained his motivations. It seems he was itching to do a rock 'n' roll musical like Tommy, but didn't like the options coming his way so he started researching. Musicals led him to female-driven plots, which led him to female protagonists and figures, and then Cleopatra. Jackpot!

It all sounds wonderful to me, although part of me sort of wishes that he'd hook up with Julie Taymor for this (can you imagine the visuals if he did?!). Best of all -- we shouldn't have to wait an eternity since Soderbergh plans to begin shooting Cleo this April. Are you ready to see Catherine, Hugh, and Ray don retro-wear and sing in 3D?

You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say that Steven Soderbergh was having a bit of a 'creative crisis' lately (talk about a guy who is all over the map). But, it hasn't stopped him from taking on more 'traditional projects' like a good old-fashioned mob film. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Soderbergh is teaming with Paramount to produce an adaptation of Joaquin "Jack" Garcia's true-life mob story, Making Jack Falcone. According to THR, Soderbergh will not direct, but will be "on board to read drafts of the script and offer other guidance on the project."

Che collaborator Peter Buchman has already signed to adapt the story of an FBI agent sent to take down the infamous Gambino crime family. The book is based on Garcia's (also known as Jack Falcone) life undercover, and how he managed to climb through the ranks of the FBI to end up as one of one of the few undercover agents in history to almost become a 'made man'. Garcia's life is ready-made for big screen treatment; between his numerous aliases and the lure of a good underworld story, there is plenty to recommend this role to any Oscar-hungry actor.

It's a bit of a disappointment that Soderbergh will only be producing this time around, but when you take a look at the guy's schedule for the coming year, its not like you can blame him. No sooner had he finished his earnest political drama, Che, before he was off to work on the whistle-blowing thriller The Informant with Matt Damon. But, as if that wasn't enough for him, there is still the small matter of a 3D rock musical about Cleopatra, a Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas and The Girlfriend Experience with porn star Sasha Grey. Like I said, the man likes to mix it up.

Who do you think should take over where Soderbergh is going to leave off? Sound off below...

Well, duh. That's what you're thinking after reading that headline. Of course Steven Soderbergh is going to make a live-action 3D rock 'n' roll musical about Cleopatra. He couldn't find a backer for the animated all-female pop opera about Nikola Tesla, and the black-and-white German-language kabuki play about Attila the Hun fell through, so naturally the live-action 3D rock 'n' roll musical about Cleopatra would have to be his next choice. Anybody could have seen that coming.

Soderbergh, who has directed about 20 theatrical features covering about 15 different genres and styles, seems determined to make his most unusual film yet. Variety says it's called Cleo, it's budgeted at $30 million, and Soderbergh is pursuing Catherine Zeta-Jones (whom he worked with in Traffic and Ocean's Twelve) to play Ms. Patra and Hugh Jackman to be her Marc Antony. We know they can both sing. But can they sing in 3D??

Oh, and in case it didn't sound weird enough already, the music is by indie rock band Guided By Voices (founded in 1983; disbanded in 2004) with a script by the band's former bass player (and sometime author), James Greer. Soderbergh is apparently a GBV fan -- one of their songs appeared in his Full Frontal, and the frontman, Robert Pollard, provided some music for Bubble.

Soderbergh is a busy guy. His four-hour Che Guevara biopic is about to be released, he's just finished a whistleblower comedy-drama called The Informant starring Matt Damon, he's preparing to make a Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas, and his next project, The Girlfriend Experience, will be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, and on the HDNet movie channel. For an extra fee, Soderbergh will come to your house and act it out for you. Cleo will have to wait at least until after Girlfriend Experience, and maybe after the Liberace thing. And who knows, in the meantime he might decide to make a futuristic outer-space epic about Benjamin Franklin and Charo. You never know with that guy!