We previously announced that action star Jason Statham (The Transporter) would be starring in Heat, and it looks like director Simon West (Con Air) is also on board.  Around the time of Statham's attachment, Brian De Palma (Scarface) was expected to direct, but now the remake looks to pair West and Statham once again; the director/actor duo have previously worked on The Mechanic and The Expendables 2.  When next they meet, it will be for Heat, a remake of the 1986 film starring Burt Reynolds as a bodyguard taking odd jobs to support his gambling addiction in Vegas.  Hit the jump to see how West and Statham plan on putting a modern spin on the film.Statham will step into the shoes of Reynolds by taking the starring role in Heat, an adaptation of the William Goldman novel (Goldman also wrote the screenplay for the 1986 film). The re-teaming of West and Statham isn't the only reunion as Cory Yuen, who directed The Transporter, will join Heat as the fight choreographer and action director.  Here's the synopsis from the modernized version of Heat, which will start production in February:

This tightly-wound action-thriller, tells the story of Nick Escalante (Statham) whose compulsive gambling has led him to the streets of Vegas, where he takes odd jobs providing “security” to support his addiction.  His professional and personal lives collide when his friend is brutally beaten forcing him to take on the mob.

West is currently in pre-production on two projects: Dust and Glory, a 1950s adventure romance centering on car races that took place on Australia's toughest terrain, and Thunder Run, a computer-generated 3D action thriller that stars Gerard Butler, Matthew McConaughey and Sam Worthington, and tells of the capture of the Iraqi capital by American forces at the onset of the Iraq War in April of 2003.