James Cameron is reportedly in talks to direct Angelina Jolie in a Cleopatra biopic.

Deadline reports that the “Avatar” director is in early negotiation with Sony Pictures to direct a new biopic of the Queen of the Nile in 3D. Also, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Amy Pascal has reportedly decided to fast-track its PG-13 and 3D Cleopatra project after screenwriter Bran Helgeland wrote what was is being described as a “brilliant script deserving of epic treatment” all about “what the Romans took from Egypt.” Film producer Scott Rudin bought the rights to Stacy Schiff’s biography “Queen Of The Nile, Cleopatra: A Life,” published last November.

Jolie is on board to star as the Egyptian monarch.

According to Reuters, an unknown Bosnian actress has been cast in the lead role in Angelina’s upcoming directorial debut.

Zana Marjanovic will star in the yet-untitled Bosnian love story, which will be set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that lasted from 1992-1995.

“I can confirm my new exciting engagement in the first film directed by Angelina Jolie in which I will have the lead role,” Zana Marjanovic, 27, told reporters before she boarded a plane for the Budapest set of the film.

The film is produced by Jolie, based on a screenplay also written by the actress. In August, Jolie told reporters that while the film is set during the Bosnian War, it will not be the focus of the film.

“It’s a love story, not a political statement,” Jolie said.

No release date for the film has been set.

"Salt" wants so much to be "The Bourne Identity."

It has all the elements. It has a strong lead actor, a cavalry of character actors who look good in suits, lots of hand-held camera cinematography and a dark, twisted aura.

But despite it’s excellent qualities (and there are many) there’s something missing from this otherwise rousing spy thriller. It’s got the cool factor and the look of "Bourne." But it’s got none of the soul.

"Salt" refers to Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), a CIA agent who’s forced to run from her employers (live Schreiber and the fantastic Chiwetel Ejiofor)when she’s accused of being a Russian spy by a defector.

Salt was originally written as a man’s role, and it’s fascinating to see how the plot adapts itself to having a woman in the role. Instead of rescuing a wife and baby, Salt sets off to find her sweet arachnologist husband (August Diehl) who’s been taken in the wake of her charges. We don’t often see this reversal in a major Hollywood picture, but director Phillip Noyce and writer Kurt Wimmer manage to navigate the startling new idea with almost blas© confidence. The only bump is when Salt actually needs to dress up as a man to get into the White House- it’s a little too on-the-nose, a little too graduate school gender theory for my taste.

Wimmer’s script may navigate gender bending with aplomb, but when it comes to a well-honed action film he tends to fall flat. The problem with "Salt" is it’s too big. There’s a conspiracy plot involving the Russian government planting long-term sleeper agents in the U.S. Plausible, especially considering the recent news that Russian spies have been spending the last 20 years hanging out in Montclair, N.J. But in this movie their mission is nothing less than killing the President and "taking over America." It’s an old-school, dated story, based in Cold War paranoia that just doesn’t apply today. Even more, the plot loses focus about halfway through, confusing Salt’s back story and getting lost in the woods of its own twists and turns.

Jolie is probably the only woman who could pull off this plot without looking ridiculous. In one of the most memorable shots in the movie, she stands on the Staten Island Ferry, wrapped in a fur stole and wearing a magnificent Russian hat. You’re both amused by the ludicrousness of the image, but because it’s Jolie it makes a weird sort of sense. Her beauty is so unusual, so foreign, why wouldn’t she be posing, looking like Julie Christie in "Dr. Zhivago"? She’s flanked by Schreiber, doing a delightfully campy Southern accent, and Ejiofor, who I would watch reading out of the phone book (as long as he did it shirtless). All three are people who you love to look at- the way they move, gesture, even the way they sit down. Diehl, who had a small role in "Inglourious Basterds", fits in perfectly with their coterie; he’s able to stoke the chemistry with Jolie in just a few short scenes.

The action scenes are, unfortunately, a problem. In their desperation to make the film PG-13, they appear to have edited the scenes to eliminate blood, injury and visceral power from the shots. This makes for a weirdly clean, and soulless action scene, and one where the hand-held camera simply doesn’t work. I certainly don’t need to see brains and viscera, but these sterile battles just can’t compare to better shot scenes in "Bourne" or the latest "Bond" films.

There is, however, a pretty awesome scene where Salt makes a rocket launcher out of office furniture and cleaning supplies. I wish we could have seen more scenes of that style- a sort of resourceful action sequence that doesn’t rely on tricky editing or impossible technology to achieve its ends. "Salt" wants to be "Bourne" but Noyce forgot what made "Bourne" great: dirty, raw action scenes balanced with tightly controlled plot. "Salt" is too unbalanced. It wants to do too many things. And in the end, despite it’s positives, it’s actually accomplished nothing.

Who is SALT? This is the question you’ll undoubtedly find yourself asking throughout the entire movie, should you decide to go. But at the end, see if you’re don’t come to the same conclusion that I do — who really cares?

Angelina Jolie stars in this action flick as (purported) russian spy Evelyn Salt. She’s a brilliant replacement for the original actor, Tom Cruise, who was to play Evan Salt. But while Cruise is currently fighting it up with Cameron Diaz in “Knight and Day,” Jolie slips back into the familiar ruthless killer role that made us love her in “Tomb Raider” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

The plot is this — Salt, who works for the CIA, heads for the hills when a Russian defector claims she’s planning to kill the Russian president at the American vice president’s funeral. She claims to be innocent, that she’s only running to protect her husband. The plot thickens when her husband is brutally murdered by the Russian who ratted her out. Truly pissed off now, Salt goes on a killing spree that ends with her in control of American nuclear weapons.

Now who wouldn’t be interested in that plot? Certainly, this reviewer was. But as the audience vacillates back and forth (Is she innocent? Is she really a spy? Was her husband a cover?), a more accurate thermometer for the potential popularity of this movie becomes clear — it’s really fun to watch Angelina Jolie display creative new ways to kill people.

So who cares if she’s a spy or not? The plot is a thinly-veiled reason for Jolie to leap from the tops of fast-moving trucks on freeways without getting a scratch. Her stunning killer-face is firmly in place as she yanks a motorcycle right out from under a guy with one hand. In possibly the most breathtaking action sequence in the film, she leaps into the center of a stairwell and dangles by a chain wrapped around a guy’s neck.

Sure, we never really know who Salt is — because she never speaks. Jolie’s only lines are “I’m innocent” repeated over and over again with varying levels of urgency as she moves from one killing sequence to the next. But who’s complaining? Well, maybe me, but just a little. The only weakness of the movie is that we get little real acting from a very good actress (remember “Girl, Interrupted”?). But, in part, that gets made up for with some good acting from Liev Schreiber, who plays her CIA buddy.

In the end, if you want to see some acting, go see “Inception.” But for a good old summertime romp with Russian spies and car chases, “SALT” is your movie.

Well this is interesting.

Director Tumor Bekmembatov is looking to Kristen Stewart, of “Twilight” fame, to replace Angelina Jolie in a “Wanted” sequel. (Spoiler: Jolie died in a shooting blaze of glory in the first film.)

It would be a different role for her than the damsel who loved the vampire.

E! Online reported that KStew was his top choice for “Wanted 2,” with a returning James McAvoy.

Of course, “Wanted 2″ doesn’t exist yet. It’s not in production yet. It’s not even close to production. Bekmambetov has plenty of other films in the queue, including “The Knights Templar,” and “Moby Dick.”

Protector Collection necklaces. Photo: Asprey.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are working with British jewelery designed Asprey to create a line of snake-like jewelery, People.com reported.

The serpentile pieces include bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings and even spoons. The net proceeds will go to the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which the couple has already given $1 million through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The snake-theme came from Angelina’s pregnancy with Shiloh in 2006, when a friend gave her a protective snake ring. Since then, snakes have become a symbol of protection for the family.

Initially, the jewelery line was meant for children, but it expanded to become the high-end “Protector Collection.” It will become available Nov. 17.

Research from security firm McAfee shows that some celebrities are just dangerous to Google and search for around the web because of the litany of fake websites out there that try to infect your computer with viruses and malicious code as you innocently seek out wallpaper and screensavers of your favs.

Brad Pitt leads the pack on a list that includes Jessica Alba and‚ Katherine Heigl.

“Fans searching for “Brad Pitt,” “Brad Pitt downloads,” and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screen savers and pictures have an 18% chance of having their PCs infected with online threats, such as spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses and other malware,” McAfee said. “Cybercriminals are using A-listers’ names and images, like Beyoncƒ© and Justin Timberlake, to lure Internet users who surf the Web for the latest gossip, screen savers and ringtones to “fake” Web sites that look legitimate.”

The list includes:

1. Brad Pitt – When “Brad Pitt screensavers” was searched, more than half of the resulting Web sites were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.

2. Beyoncƒ© – Inputting “Beyoncƒ© ringtones” into a search engine yields risky Web sites that promote misleading offers to gather consumers’ personal information.

3. Justin Timberlake – Interest in his high-profile relationships makes him an easy target for spammers and hackers. When searching for “Justin Timberlake downloads” one Web site advertised free music downloads that were flagged as directly leading to spam, spyware and adware.

4. Heidi Montag – “The Hills” star is a popular search term when it comes to searching for wallpaper. A host of wallpaper Web sites contained hundreds of malware-laden downloads.

5. Mariah Carey – Spammers and hackers are using Mariah Carey screen saver Web sites to link to other sites proven to contain spyware, adware and other threatening downloads.

6. Jessica Alba – Red-ranked risky sites were identified when searching for “Jessica Alba” and “Jessica Alba downloads.” The sites contained hundreds of malicious downloads, links to other bad sites, misleading offers to gather information, and a high number of spam emails when an email address was provided.

7. Lindsay Lohan – This young Hollywood starlet is as dangerous to search online as she is famous. Searching for “Lindsay Lohan downloads” resulted in several dangerous Web sites laden with hidden adware.

8. Cameron Diaz – Cybercriminals use download Web sites related to Cameron Diaz’s image to link to other harmful sites containing spyware.

9. George Clooney, Rihanna – The technology found one Web site embedded with hundreds of dangerous wallpaper and photo downloads after inputting “George Clooney downloads.” “Rihanna pictures” was also a risky search term, as McAfee identified a site that spammed its test email address.

11. Angelina Jolie – When “Angelina Jolie downloads” was searched, the software highlighted a risky site with 978 hidden malware-infected wallpaper and photo downloads, as well as links to other potentially dangerous URLs.

12. Fergie – A Fergie screen saver site was flagged as offering 111 risky downloads that could seriously compromise a PC’s privacy with unwanted spyware and adware.

13. David Beckham, Katie Holmes – The “David Beckham” search term generated a great deal of wallpaper and screen saver downloads veiled with malware. Consumers should also exercise caution when searching for “Katie Holmes” online – one download site advertised free screen savers that, if downloaded, would infect your computer with malicious programs like spyware.

15. Katherine Heigl – Hollywood’s big headliner in recent years is now susceptible to Internet lurkers too. “Katherine Heigl” was searched and a site was identified containing hundreds of malware-infected pictures.

‚ ”Cybercriminals employ numerous methods, yet one of the simplest but most effective ways is to trick consumers into infecting themselves by capitalizing on Americans’ interest in celebrity gossip,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee’s Product Development and Avert Labs. “Tapping into current events, pop culture or commonly browsed sites is an easy way to achieve this. And because of Americans’ obsession with following celebrities’ lifestyles, they are an obvious target. We have to take precautions in casually navigating the Web since many subtle sites may be rife with malware for consumers’ computers.”

The list was compiled using McAfee SiteAdvisor, which can be downloaded for free at‚ www.mcafee.com/siteadvisor.