We Will Always Have... Madonna!

It is one of the greatest films of Hollywood's golden era, a triple Oscar-winning classic with electrifyingly charismatic stars and a script bursting with memorable lines. But now Madonna has stunned the movie industry with plans to remake Casablanca – and this time set it in Iraq.

The singer is allegedly also planning to take the lead role of Ilsa Lund, which originally made a star of Ingrid Bergman, mother of Isabella Rossellini who posed in Madonna's revealing coffee table book in 1992.

A source at a major Hollywood studio that was recently approached by the star said: "She is still determined to make it in the movies. She and her representatives have been touting around a project which is a remake of Casablanca. The reception has been lukewarm to say the least. No one can understand why she wants to redo what many people consider the greatest film of all time." *Additional comment: Let me throw in a wild guess, ummm, maybe because it is considered the greatest film of all time? Ha!

In the 1942 original, Bergman starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, who played Rick Blaine, a cynical bar owner in the Moroccan city of Casablanca in the early days of the Second World War. Ilsa is torn between love for her husband, a Czech Resistance leader, and her ex-lover Rick.

Madonna is said to believe the film will make her reputation as an actress, after a string of high-profile flops such as Shanghai Surprise, Body Of Evidence and Swept Away, her much-derided 2002 collaboration with husband Guy Ritchie. *Additional comment: I thought she was rather good in the BOE and SA, sorry, her record is not that bad! And well, she has great triumphs too - like Dick Tracy, and foremost Evita which she won a Golden Globe for.

The source said: "Madonna is talking about taking the Ingrid Bergman role for herself, even though Bergman was in her 20s when she played Ilsa and Madonna is nearly 50." *Additional comment: Oh no, not that age thing again! Those envious reporter bitches...

"She wants to update the story and maybe set it in a modern war zone such as Iraq. There is no script yet. Madonna and her people are testing the waters to see if this is the right vehicle for her and if a major studio will get behind the project."

The movie, which regularly tops lists of the greatest films ever made, includes the classic song As Time Goes By and memorable quotes such as: "Here's looking at you, kid", "We'll always have Paris" and "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world she walks into mine". But one of the lines most closely associated with Casablanca – "Play it again, Sam"– is a misquotation. In fact, Ilsa says: "Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake. Play it, Sam." Later, Rick says: "You played it for her and you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it!"

Bollywood filmmaker Rajeev Nath is also said to be working on a remake set in India, calling it "a tribute to the original".

A spokeswoman for Madonna refused to comment - and no wonder, the alleged "improvements" she's said wanting to do (to the script) were in bad taste, obviously fake, with nasty references to her adoption of David and Kabbalah beliefs. This is why I will not even publish them here.

The project in itself, her remaking the old classic would not be that unbelievable though. After all she's a tough cookie and has never been afraid to take risks - and to do a remake of one of the biggest movie classics is nothing short of a risk. However, if such a project will come together, we will know it in time.

*As of now, I encourage you all to take the content of this story with a grain of salt. I am simply publishing this as a rumour, not a fact! I did have fun doing the movie poster however, haha, even if it would not be exactly what she is going for - if the rumours about the movie and it taking place in a war zone are infact true.