sundance & butch

I just watched the special features on the BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID dvd. It's often tremendous fun to discover reasons why a fantastic movie is so. BUTCH was the first movie in which the hero(es) unashamedly ran away, an idea which was completely alien to audiences who only knew John Wayne and Gary Cooper. BUTCH was also the first film to ever show a man being kicked in the balls.
It's fascinating to learn what actors were almost cast. Often with a great film, you can't imagine other actors playing the parts. The magic just falls apart, in your head. Newman was gracious or honest enough to say that the script and director were so fantastic, many actors could have created those roles. The first actor onboard for BUTCH was Steve McQueen. When director George Roy Hill decided that Newman was the better choice for Cassidy, he asked McQueen to play Sundance. McQueen moved on. After that, Jack Lemmon and Warren Beatty were asked to play Sundance, and both turned it down, leaving the relatively unknown Redford (whom the studio had been strenuously resisting). Of all those possible combinations, i'd actually be curious to see what would have come of the pairing of McQueen and Lemmon. It would have been a darker role than what Jack usually played, but the force of McQueen's personality might have made him more alpha, nonetheless. A very different chemistry, but it could have worked.
When the rumors popped up about a Damon/Affleck remake, i was as appalled as anyone. But knowing more about the movie, i'd actually agree to a remake under these conditions:
1 - It be more real. Sundance was a huge drinker, and cold-bloodedly aggressive almost to the point of schizophrenia. Yet the affable Butch and he were true friends; how did that work?
2 - There's an excellent chance Etta was a prostitute, not a teacher, and that she was with both men. She was more aged and solid than Katherine Ross. Perhaps they happily shared her, even at the same time, or separately and not so happily?
3 - The super posse was historically accurate, but there was never a chase. The split for Bolivia happened as soon as they got word of the posse.
4 - Do a different ending, perhaps the one told by Cassidy's sister, who said that Butch survived the Bolivian cavalry attack, and returned to the U.S. to live out his life under an assumed name. Perhaps he and Etta reunited.
5 - Allow Damon and Affleck in only if they can be made to look like they're not movie stars.