Penelope Cruz is about to dance the flamenco with a big cast of Bollywood dancers. I know, I thought it was the flamingo too. Apparently the dance has nothing to do with the pink, leggy birds to which Penelope bears a strange resemblance.

Production Weekly reports that Cruz is joining the cast of Passion India, a movie adapted from the novel “Indian Passion” by Javier Moro. The book is about a 17-year-old flamenco dancer in the 1900’s who lands in the midst of scandal when she agrees to marry an Indian maharaja. Sounds like something that could fit nicely into the boring but beautiful mold of movies like Memoirs of a Geisha or The King and I.

Since Penelope is visibly much older than seventeen, it’s safe to assume they’ll either modify the story so that she’ll fit into the lead role, or cake her in enough makeup to hide the fact that she’s well past the age of molting. Or maybe she’s not playing the lead at all and is really doing nothing more than a cameo, making this news story a rather lot less interesting.

If you’re in a hurry to see Penelope in something, watch for her this year as “Anna” in The Good Night; a movie about a pop star retired and relegated to writing jingles. Oddly enough, the former pop star is played by Hitchhiker’s Guide alum Martin Freeman. Yeah, that’s believable.