Guy Ritchie to direct movie remake of Guys And Dolls?

Oh dear LORD.

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He'd do it well.

So Jason Statham is actually not a half bad actor. I've really been waiting for him to try something other than a mindless action flick. I'd be intrigued in this for certain.

I can't imagine this will happen.
The idea of taking an iconic NEW YORK musical and moving the setting to England is the first clue that he has No clue at all.
It would mean rewriting a lot of lyrics which should NOT happen!

I'm not familiar with Jason Stratham, I IMDB-ed him and I haven't seen him in anything he has done before.
I just don't think you can set this in London and remain true to the material.
I'd love to see a cast that features Natalie Portman or Anne Hathaway as Sarah Brown, Hugh Jackman or Ewan McGregor as Sky Masterson, John C. Reilly or Philip Seymour Hoffman as Nathan Detroit, and Marisa Tomei, Reese Witherspoon or the fabulous Jane Krakowski as Miss Adelaide. Maybe someone like Steve Buscemi as Nicely-Nicely Johnson (does he have to be a big person?)
Maybe they'll cast Jessica Biel as Sarah Brown if she does a good job at the Hollywood Bowl concert.

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Jason Statham?! London?! WHY?!?!?

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He's going to change the title to Blokes'n'birds.

I'm not entirely opposed to setting the show in London, which is an interesting proposition, but the show is so inherently "American" in its settings, language and characters, I just don't see how it could be accomplished well. Even the title! Was the same slang popular during the same era in London? Will he change it to "Blokes and Birds"? It's sort of like trying to rewrite Me and My Girl to be set in Manhattan. If the books and scores weren't already iconic on their own within the realm of musical theatre (and to a certain extent, Guys and Dolls on the screen), then I could understand. The controversial relocation of The Full Monty was certainly debatable, but the film was not very old and there was no previous musicalized version of the material, so the risk was far less severe. But setting Guys and Dolls in London for a film is a somewhat dubious, yet intriguing, notion.

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Oh, I'd love to see Christina Applegate as Adelaide. They should've gotten her for the recent revival.

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Brittany Murphy is a little young for Adelaide. Also, last time I saw her, she was too waif-ish.

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My joke gets repeated twice!!

Great minds indeed.

Seriously, I think the analogy is not Me and My Girl or The Full Monty but My Fair Lady. Whilst in the broadest of terms you could move the time, location and culture of either show the specifics of those already chosen enhance and accentuate the plotlines so much that any translation would undermine the whole work with little of value to substitute.

One thing for sure. Guy Ritchie knows how to shoot motions. It will be interesting to see how he shoot the choreograph.