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“.

Burt Reynolds is currently recovering from quintuple bypass surgery, and he says that he is “feeling great” now that he has “a great motor with brand new pipes”.

The 74-year-old actor has had this procedure planned for months, and is currently back at his Florida home with 24-hour nursing care.

There would be no point in going over Burt’s resume, as he has shown his stuff on film and TV, but his next appearance will be in Not Another Not Another Movie, which is currently in post-production.

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When I hear the name Jerry Reed, I think of Burt Reynold’s movies, particularly, Smokey and the Bandit films. Jerry was first and foremost a county singer — he played the guitar with Elvis when Elvis recorded Reed’s songs “Guitar Man” and “U.S. Male.”

I believe most people remembered him as the sidekick to Burt Reynolds, yet it seemed more like a hobby to Reed.

However, his last film was with Adam Sandler in The Waterboy, 1998.

Jerry Reed past away Monday of emphysema at the age of 71.