Given all the attention that octogenarian comedienne and actress Betty White has been garnering these days (a Facebook campaign got her hosting Saturday Night Live and she’s been comically pushed for every available role from Megan Fox’s vacant Transformers 3 part to Spider-Man to hosting the Oscars), it’s not surprising that more than one producer is desperate to use her popularity to get stalled projects up and running again. Such is the case with Jerry Weintraub’s long held ambition to remake the 1977 George Burns comedy **O****h, God!
According to Deadline, the new version of the film is only at the pitch stage, and while several scripts have been generated over the years – last time, Ellen DeGeneres was touted as a possible deity – nothing is set in stone and Warner Bros., which is also behind the idea, doesn’t yet have a screenplay ready to send out.
Alongside White, Weintraub and co are apparently considering Paul Rudd to take over the role of Jerry Landers, the good-natured but hapless mortal that the wise-cracking Almighty selects to spread his word in the modern world. Carl Reiner directed the original film, with musician John Denver playing Jerry.
Meanwhile, even if White likes the script, the studio will probably have to wait for an answer, since by this time tomorrow, Marvel will have sent out an offer to White asking if she'd like to play Bruce Banner in The Avengers…