LOS ANGELES, CA — Paramount Pictures has confirmed rumors that it has begun pre-production on a remake of the John Wayne classic film, Sands of Iwo Jima. The 1949 film about U.S. Marines in World War II was nominated for four Academy Awards and is considered one of the greatest war movies of all time.

"We were going through our rolodex of old movies we planned to remake this year when it just jumped off the page at us," said head writer Madhuri Vemulakonda.

"It's got everything: the tough old veteran with the heart of gold, the cynical young kid who learns to take responsibility, the disgraced soldier who finds redemption, all set in the middle of this fictional war against an international terrorist group called JAPS. It's like Battle: LA meets The Hurt Locker."

While the cast has not been officially announced, studio executives confirmed they have scrapped earlier plans to cast either Alec Baldwin or Nicolas Cage in the lead role.

In what producers call "a sign of the changing times", t…