Neeson and Fiennes Clash with the Titans

The only thing worse than remaking an adaptation rather than tackling the source material is getting two actors you'd love to see go head-to-head. When this project bubbled up in 2007, I mentioned greats in the original Clash of the Titans cast like Laurence Olivier and Burgess Meredith. While this new concoction has been grabbing fresh names like Arterton, Worthington, Mads Mikkelsen (Le Chiffre in Casino Royale), and Alexa Davalos (the electric Gwen from Angel), it's also getting some critical heavyweights.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Liam Neeson has signed on, and Ralph Fiennes is in final negotiations, to play warring gods in the Louis Leterrier remake. Oh, yes -- Neeson will play the ill-tempered Zeus, king of the gods and father of Perseus (Olivier's part), while Fiennes plays Hades, ruler of the underworld who wants to bring down Zeus and become supreme ruler. Even if the rest is terrible, I'd pay to see them go head to head.

Fans of the original will note that Hades wasn't in the first film, and that's because while this has been touted as a remake, they're going in a different direction with this story -- Perseus is on a mission to save the lady once again, but this time he has to defeat Hades. Yeah, that makes it pretty much a totally different project, but maybe they loved the name too much to not call it a remake...