The $20 Million Woman

Sex, Lies and videotape director Steven Soderbergh was among the first to learn that Catherine Zeta-Jones is expecting. He tells TV Guide Online, "I called her up to offer her a part in my next movie, and she said, 'I can't. I'm going to have a baby.' "

Soderbergh was unfazed. "I told her that she'd be playing a mother with two kids and we'd just make her character pregnant. So she said yes. She'll be about five months pregnant when we start filming."

The accomplished auteur has just directed Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich and he's become an unabashed fan of the actress ? even if she did up the budget by collecting a $20 million paycheck! "She has an irrepressibility, energy and sparkle that are totally enticing. I can't imagine why she was cast in a movie like Mary Reilly that sort of turned off all her spirit. Her gift is this life force. I want her to do a cameo in my remake of Ocean's 11 next year, and I think she might."

What does Roberts say? "I do love that man so it wouldn't surprise me if I ended up in Las Vegas. Let's put it that way."

So, is the pretty woman worth $20 million? "When I saw the response at the preview I understood why she gets paid so much," Soderbergh says. "I have never had a preview like that for any movie I've done."