Catherine Zeta-Jones Joins 'Rock of Ages'

Catherine Zeta-Jones is in final negotiations to join the cast of director Adam Shankman’s musical Rock of Ages.

Zeta-Jones, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for 2002's big screen musical Chicago, will play the villain of the movie, a part that was not in the stage production.

“It’s a character that we only really came to in the last month,” said Shankman. “The character was invented to streamline the stories.”

Shankman described the character as "if Tipper Gore and Anita Bryant had a love child. She is this hardcore, moral majority, arch-conservative  who wants to shut down rock’n roll in the great city of Los Angeles."   “It’s like the musical gods just blessed us!” he said regarding Zeta-Jones’ boarding.   Based on the Broadway musical, the New Line production, which is scheduled to begin shooting May 19 in Miami, is also set to star newcomer Diego Gonzalez Boneta along with Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti and Julianne Hough.

Ages tells the story, replete with hair-band music, of a small-town girl (Hough) who comes to Hollywood for the 1980s music scene and is nearly destroyed by it. Although she falls for a budding musician named Drew (Boneta), she also catches the eye of Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), an arrogant rocker at the height of his career, ends up as a stripper in a club run by Blige but also finds true love at the end.

Shankman’s Offspring Entertainment, Tobey Maguire’s Maguire Entertainment and Corner Store Entertainment are producing, with Garrett Grant serving as exec producer.