Winstone, Liotta count to '13' (VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham, Sam Riley, 50 Cent and Ray Liotta will star in "13," Gela Babluani’s remake of French psychological thriller "13 Tzameti." The 2005 original, which Babluani wrote and directed, won the grand jury prize for world cinema at the Sundance Film Festival.

Babluani has written the new script and will begin production in New York on Nov. 20, says Variety. Riley plays the title character, a young man who stumbles into an underground competition where the wealthy gamble on human beings in a Russian Roulette-like competition.

Rourke will play a convict in a Mexican prison who is sold into the competition while Winstone will play a competitor who has been sprung from a mental institution to participate. 50 Cent is into play an employee assigned to escort Rourke's character to the game.

As for Statham, he will play a wealthy Brit who bets on the competition and has a peculiar interest in one of the competitors. Liotta will play a cop on the trail of the illegal game.

The film is to be produced by Rick Schwartz and his Overnight Prods.; Barbarian Films' Aaron Kaufman and Valerio Morabito.