The Angelina Jolie-starring Cleopatra movie that recently had James Cameron and Paul Greengrass interested has set its sights on another high-caliber director. According to Deadline Sony is currently hoping that David Fincher will tackle the project, possibly at some point between finishing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, which he's also expected to direct.

There's a lot up in the air about the movie right now-- Cameron wanted it in 3D, and it's unclear if they'll keep it that way, plus there are possible rewrites coming for the script originally written by Brian Helgeland. Jolie, who has been attached to the project from the beginning and would be the key element for its box office success, likely has final say in which director gets picked; given that Brad Pitt worked with Fincher three times before it's likely she'd be convinced as well, but still, that's one more thing to be worked out. And finally Fincher is a busy guy-- if Dragon Tattoo is a hit, they'll want him to move forward on Played With Fire immediately, which could make his work on this impossible.

Despite the fact that he's David Fincher and seemingly capable of anything, and that Jolie is as perfect an actress to play Cleopatra as there's ever been, I can't quite figure out what this project would be like. Fincher's only previous period film was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, by far his least interesting work, and I somehow can't picture him photographing all the Egyptian pyramids and casts of thousands. Then again, if you want a Cleopatra that's as different as possible from the 1963 epic flop, Fincher might be precisely the guy to turn to.