MGM’s COO Rick Sands announced in Cannes today that MGM will be backing a remake of the hit 1980’s musical FAME (which later spawned the TV series and the failed American Idol wannabe-reality show). Mark Canton (credited producer on 300, but best known for giving us CADDYSHACK) is producing along with Lakeshore Entertainment.

MGM is also apparently on track to hitting the pay dirt in the form of a $500 million film financing fund with Merrill Lynch to back Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise’s United Artists shingle.

Sands also said “We’re just finalizing the paperwork” – which probably means that Cruise has to get the blessings from his scientology overlords.

Fame redux will hit theaters in the summer of 2008 and will cost about $25 million to make.

The original film starred Irene Cara (as Coco Hernandez) and Debbie Allen (who later won a few Emmy’s and a Golden Globe for her work on the TV show as choreographer and for the role of Lydia Grant).

Here’s who we’d like to see cast in the remake:

Coco Hernandez: Christina Millian

Lydia Grant: Jennifer Lopez

Bruno Martelli: Joey Lawrence

Lisa Monroe: Sophia Bush

Benjamin Shorofsky: Anthony Hopkins

Leroy Johnson: Usher

Tags: Fame, Tom Cruise, MGM, Scientology

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