I’ve spent most of the weekend going through Paramount’s newly-remastered “Godfather” trilogy, and will be finishing that up today. So I’m a little busy.

Funny story, though: A few years ago, only half-kidding, I tried to cast a remake of the original film with present-day actors.

Think about it: Denis Leary as Sonny; Julianne Moore as Kay. Sofia Coppola, obviously, would play Connie. James Gandolfini as Clemenza. Alec Baldwin would have been a perfect Tom Hagen, though he’s a hair too old for the part now. (UPDATE: Will Arnett can step in, obviously.) Same for David Paymer as Fredo; who do you get now, Ralph Fiennes and Topher Grace?

Vito is a no-brainer; get Robert De Niro, put a little mustache on him, you’re good to go. That just leaves Michael, really … but Al Pacino owned that part from his very first frames. Who could possibly step in now?

At the time, I thought Jason Biggs would be suitably perverse casting. Now I’m thinking maybe we go even further outside the box. Russell Brand, from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”?

Or if we’re really shooting the works, how about Zachary Quinto from “Heroes”? The guy’s already played Spock, so we know he’s willing to step in to a role indelibly associated with another actor … now we just need to know whether he can play a Sicilian.