Casting Couch: Sho'nuff! Jackson Enters the Dragon

Thu., Oct. 30, 2008 9:55 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Samuel L. Jackson, Courteney Cox Arquette, Vince Vaughn

New Line Cinema, Lisa O'Connor/ZUMAPress.com, Richard Harding/ZUMAPress.com

We already know Samuel L. Jackson is a bad motherf-----. But who knew he possessed the power of the glow?

The Pulp Fiction star has signed on to play baddie Sho'nuff in a remake of Berry Gordy's 1985 cult classic, The Last Dragon, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The plot focuses on a Bruce Lee-obsessed martial-arts student who masters the power of "the glow" and faces off with the neighborhood heavy.

As originally played by the late Julius Carry, Sho'nuff, aka the Shogun of Harlem, goes around shouting, "Am I the baddest mofo lowdown around this town?" To which his henchmen reply: "Sho'nuff!"

Meanwhile, Courteney Cox, Vince Vaughn and Ice Cube are among the other A-listers remaining gainfully employed...

• Cox is on the prowl in Cougar Town, a half-hour comedy for ABC from Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence. She'll play a newly single 40-year-old mom looking to sink her claws in younger men. Me-ouch!

• Vaughn is anteing up for Sunny and 68, about a washed-up professional poker player who returns home for the first time in 20 years and discovers his mom is dying of cancer.

• Ice Cube as been tapped to write and executive produce an hour-long buddy-cop comedy series for NBC, for which he may also make several guest appearances and may even contribute music. We're guessing "F--- tha Police" won't be on the soundtrack.

• Gary Oldman is joining Denzel Washington in Allen and Albert Hughes' postapocalyptic action drama Book of Eli, playing the despot of a small town seeking a powerful book guarded by a lone warrior (Washington).

• Dylan McDermott, Zoe Saldana, Lake Bell, Nick Stahl, Paz Vega and Shannen Doherty have joined the ensemble cast of Burning Palms, an indie drama satirizing Los Angeleno stereotypes via five interlacing storylines. Hmm, haven't we crashed into this premise before?