Interesting thought. The problem is that if you change the murderer, you're going to have to change who the victim is and probably a lot of the secondary characters as well.

The idea of John Payne sacrificing himself for Madonna makes me think of his last line from "Miracle on 34th Street." "Maybe I didn't do such a wonderful thing after all!"

As a kind of revenge, you could take an actor you consider really full of himself and imagine him playing Ward Fowler.
Or take an actor you consider a real ham and imagine him playing Nick Frame.

After watching his performance in Knives Out, I would cast Chris Evans as Ward Fowler in a heartbeat.

LMAO - Eric Paddon! Maybe we have Anthony Hopkins playing the Ned Diamond part and he simply lets Columbo take a stupefied Madonna away at the end. (I certainly wish someone would take her away)

I believe Madonna doesn't even deserve a bit roll as in Jamie Lee Curtis as a waitress.