Lee Daniels to remake Fellini's Nights of Cabiria

I haven't seen enough of Lee Daniels' work to properly judge the guy, but the idea of him remaking Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria strikes me as oddball.  That's what Deadline says is happening, however, thrown into the middle of a story about his switching talent agencies. So there's not much to go on other than that he's involved, but whether it's as writer/director or something else is unclear.

Offhand I'd say the guy who gave us Shadowboxer and Precious(as good as it was it's kinda stagnant visually) isn't the ideal choice to remake anything by Fellini, whose films always had a certain extravagance to them.  Cabiria is no different. Without knowing Daniels' true role to be played I don't want to totally disregard his involvement.

Nights of Cabiria opened in 1957 and starred Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, as a prostitute who tries to better her life while overcoming a number of troubled relationships. It's probably best remembered for the iconic final scene, which has Cabiria walking home after a traumatic experience and the town forms this sortof impromptu parade for her. I always thought that scene was darkly mirrored in a way by Lars Von Trier in his film Breaking the Waves, in a scene where Emily Watson's formerly innocent character is walking back home alone after a sexual encounter, and the town greets her with rocks and insults. Maybe I'm reading it the wrong way, though.