In what is thankfully not an ill-advised sequel to "The Shawshank Redemption", Variety is reporting that Morgan Freeman is in talks to co-star with Bruce Willis in the upcoming espionage-thriller "Red" based off the Wildstorm/DC comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer.  Hit the jump to read how Variety's synopsis conflicts with the synopsis Wildstorm/DC provides for the miniseries.

Here's how Variety describes it: The three-book series, published in 2003 and 2004, tells the story of a former black-ops CIA agent now living a quiet life in retirement until the day a high-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him.

Okay, here's how Wildstorm/DC describes it: As a C.I.A. operative, Paul Moses's unique talent for killing took him around the world, from one hotspot to another, carrying out the deadly orders of his superiors. And when he retired, he wanted to put his bloody past behind him. But when a new administration takes over the White House, the powers that be decide that Moses knows too much, forcing him back into the game against the agency that trained him.

I'm hoping that Variety's synopsis is just their usual sparse writing and that brothers Erich and Jon Hoeber (who previously adapted the comic "Whiteout") are sticking more to the Wildstorm/DC description because it offers such delightful possibilities.

1)  Morgan Freeman is the CIA operative on the run.  He's not (I'm 99% sure that's Willis' role since he still does the action stuff and it would be age-appropriate) but if he was, that would be delightful watching him run from an assassin.

2)  Morgan Freeman plays the President of the new White House administration and orders Bruce Willis killed.  That way, it could be a prequel to "Deep Impact" and Bruce Willis has the information that a comet was coming to destroy the Earth.

3)  Morgan Freeman plays the deceitful, slimy head of some department who orders the assassin to kill Bruce Willis.  This is probably the closest prediction to the casting and while that's not as interesting as options 1 or 2, it does allow for Freeman to once again say, "Somebody shoot this motherfucker!"

Freeman will next appear as Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus".