William Goldman is rewriting the remake of 1986 Heat, a Burt Reynolds movie. The remake is for Jason Statham to star and Brian de Palma is directing. What a combination!

What is very cool is that Goldman also wrote the screenplay for the original – now he’s changed it for a more modern tone.

The story centers on a recovering gambling addict. His job is providing protection in the rough edges of the gambling world, and he refuses gunplay. Instead, he uses hand and edged weapon combat. His friend is brutally beaten by a mobster, and he helps the victim seek out revenge.

If you are not familiar with Goldman, he wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as well as other classics. He even wrote about screenwriting in Hollywood called “Nobody Knows Nothing“.

Whoa.

As sad as the last bit about American Pie made me, folks, I got all sorts of reasons to be cheery happy about THIS newsy bit.

Apparently the hole left by Kevin Greutert in Paranormal Activity 2 might be getting filled by a downright legend in the industry, Brian De Palma.

Now, admittedly, nothing is official yet, and there are other choices currently being bickered over.  But they’re not exactly GREAT choices–De Palma’s on a list with Transsiberian’s Brad Anderson and Wolf Creek’s Greg McLean.  Though in all honesty, neither of these two have the background and sheer name recognition of Brian De Palma.

That and can you imagine the marketing?  “Paranormal Activity 2: A Brian De Palma Film”.

I just got goosebumps.

Though it remains to be seen who’s actually going to get in, and as a result, what direction the film will take.  There was even some word going around that they were looking to bring in the writer of A Beautiful Mind to direct.  But all this adds up to one important point–Paranormal Activity 2 just might be worth catching after all.