After her performance as Velma Kelly in the „Chicago” musical earned Catherine Zeta-Jones an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and also a Screen Actors Guild Award, the 39 years old actress has now been cast in a 3-D period musical called “Cleopatra.”

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the production retells the story of three famous historical figures, Cleopatra, Antony and Caesar, and is set in the 1920s.

Zeta-Jones will be portraying the Hellenistic ruler of Egypt Cleopatra, who was romantically involved with Gaius Julius Caesar, a Roman military and political leader who was later assassinated. After his death, the Egyptian queen consummates a liaison with Mark Antony, a Roman politician and General with whom she has three children.

Cleopatra eventually commits suicide, after she and Antony suffer a defeat at Actium by their rival and also Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian.

Rumor has it that Hugh Jackman is currently in talks for a leading role in the "Cleopatra" musical, as the aforementioned Mark Antony. Jackman is a Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning Australian actor best known for his roles in „Van Helsing” and „X-men.”

Steven Soderbergh’s works include the movies „Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” „Traffic” and also the „Ocean's Eleven” franchise. „Traffic” earned the 45 years old director an Academy Award for Best Director in the year 2000.

Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones rose to fame in the late 1990s due to her roles in Hollywood movies such as „The Phantom,” „The Mask of Zorro,” and „Entrapment.”

In January next year, the romantic comedy „The Rebound,” in which she plays lead character Sandy, is slated for release in the United States.