Vinnie Jones plans remake of cult soccer movie ‘Escape To Victory’

London: British footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones is said to be planning a big-budget remake of cult soccer movie ‘Escape To Victory’.Jones, 45, is hoping to use his contacts within the game to lure star players including David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, and Lionel Messi to join his next project.

The actor wants to remake the 1981 movie, which starred Michael Caine and an array of top footballers - including Pele and former England captain Bobby Moore - as World War II POWs who take part in a propaganda-led match. Jones aims to update the film by setting it in Afghanistan or Iraq - and hopes interest in the remake will rocket after the World Cup in South Africa this summer. “We’re in pre-production, and I’m in the process of buying the rights to the title off Paramount films, so hopefully you’ll be able to see it in cinemas by Christmas,” the Daily Express quoted him as writing in his column for Loaded magazine. “I’ll be in it, of course, but I’ll also be producing it, which is more exciting. “The names being bandied around include Henry, Rio, Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo, and Messi. “I can tell you that I’ve approached some of the biggest names in world soccer... Is Beckham going to be involved? I certainly hope so,” he wrote. And Jones has even devised a plan to accommodate Beckham’s Achilles tendon injury, which ruled him out of the World Cup. “If Becks agrees, we’ll write it into the film that the enemy crock him, because he wouldn’t be fit for filming,” he added. ANI