It isn't all that often that the worlds of football and show business collide (with the possible exception of Dwight Yorke and Jordan, or David and Victoria Beckham) but it would seem that the two opposing ends of the entertainment spectrum are all set to collide again.
According to Hollywood sources, veteran movie director James Cameron has been chomping at the bit to remake the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video for almost three decades, in order to win a bet with his old chum, John Landis.
Cameron always insisted that he could have made a better job of the project, and possibly would have, had he been able to get Jackson to reprise his role, but Jackson splurged on cosmetic surgery procedures, making a comparison virtually impossible.
It seems that the project was then put on the back burner, despite the $2 million bet remaining unresolved.
But then James Cameron saw Nani - Manchester United's unpredictable Portuguese wild child in video clips on the news as he played in a Champions League tie in Marseilles and was targeted by a thug in the crowd with a laser light pen.
It was at that point that Cameron realised that he'd found the new Michael.
"Nani's a natural for Michael," a source said. "Put him in a red jacket with some novelty contact lenses and he's a ringer. We already know he can do the fancy footwork bit, but Michael's final ball was probably better."
A spokesman for Nani said that the soccer star would consider offers but would emphatically draw the line at bumming little boys, dangling babies of balconies, setting his head on fire, or sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber.
Mashed off his head on drugs.
