Now here's a piece of casting I never expected and one that tells us the remake of Susanne Bier's Danish war film Brødre (Brothers) could well turn out to be a strong and positive remake.

Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal have been lined up for the roles of the two brothers, one who is sent to Afghanistan, shot down and presumed dead, with the other remaining home as a drunk and amounting to nothing until the news comes home of his brother's death.

However his brother isn't dead, he's been captured and held prisoner, tortured physically and mentally. The brother who remains at home has just come out of prison and struggles with drink, but as soon as he hears about his brothers death he rallies to the family he has left behind and begins to support them, cleaning himself up.

I've seen the film and thought it was very powerful, although the Danish original did have some weaknesses. For the life of me though I can't find the review! Another one I haven't written up. It offers some great moments and the characters are built well, and the performances from the three leads of Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas are very strong.

Along with the Variety casting news we hear that David Benioff is writing the remake, and they tell us that Jake Gyllenhaal plays the younger brother with Tobey Maguire playing the older. Brilliant, what they don't tell us is which is going to war and which stays at home! However If I remember it's the older brother that heads to war, and so that gives Maguire a pretty meaty role to play when his character has to confront his demons.

I have a lot of hope for this remake now, not just with the casting but with the writer, especially as we heard that Jim Sheridan was in talks to Direct the remake.