Paramount might just give The Gambler remake to Todd Phillips, if James Toback is gonna be like that

Having listened carefully to James Toback's very public, spiteful protests over the idea of The Gambler being remade without his consent, then decided they were hilarious, apparently, Paramount is now reportedly considering giving the project to Hangover director Todd Phillips, because fuck James Toback. Toback's intensely personal, autobiographical story about his own gambling struggles was first released as a 1974 film starring James Caan, and most recently Martin Scorsese was considering directing a new version with his Departed screenwriter William Monahan and only acceptable actor, Leonardo DiCaprio—a team whose prestige only seemed to enrage Toback further over his exclusion. So now Scorsese is out, and Paramount is preparing to give it to Phillips as his first move to actual drama, and away from comedies where dramatic things happen to men's dicks. All that time spent gambling, and Toback never learned when to stick.

Indeed, he could have learned something from Kenny Rogers, whose "The Gambler" still has nothing to do with this film but continues to be awesome—and awesomely instructive.