'Hustle & Flow' Director in for 'Footloose' Remake?

Who knows how this will play out, but it's certainly one of the stranger developments to come along in a while. Kenny Ortega recently bailed on the Footloose remake - and based on the so-so performance of This Is It to this point, you have wonder if he's rethinking that - leaving Paramount to look elsewhere for a director. Now, my first thought would be to find someone with related experience and not a filmmaker known for his hardcore rated R movies. So when the news (from The Hollywood Reporter by way of the Memphis Commerical Appeal) broke that producers might be focusing on Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan director Craig Brewer, I have to admit, I was really surprised. I don't think I even need to explain why. However, as we wrote earlier the week, there was an issue over the tone of the update of Footloose, with Paramount apparently not just wanting something beyond PG rated in terms of content, but also "a more dramatic tale, and not a splashy musical production." Again: Really surprised. The question becomes what exactly is Paramount doing with this project? Zac Efron was connected at one point, but he bailed out because he didn't want to keep doing musicals. In comes Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl, the schedule gets reconfigured to fit his schedule, Ortega - known pretty much only musicals - leaves the production, and now we're finding out that if Efron had stayed on board, he wouldn't be in a "splashy musical" after all. And who in the hell would be interested in a non-Footloose retooling of Footloose? Not teens, not the original's fans from the 80s, and probably not women...the target audience for Zac Efron or Chace Crawford. Now, Brewer hasn't signed anything, and I'd rather he didn't. Not enough people saw Black Snake Moan, but I think doing some ill-fitting Footloose that seems to be lacking in proper oversight would be a step backwards.