The saga continues… For a moment, it looked like everything was going to be okay on the troubled western “Jane Got A Gun.” After Michael Fassbender‘s departure, followed not longer after by director Lynne Ramsay‘s dramatic bailing on the movie literally days before cameras were going to roll (depending on who you ask she blindsided producers, or simply couldn’t come to terms with them) the movie recovered with “Warrior” director Gavin O’Connor taking over the director’s chair. The cast was shaken up a bit with the long attached Natalie Portman (who is also a producer on the movie) being joined by Joel Edgerton (who changed roles during the casting shuffle), Bradley Cooper (replacing Jude Law who also eventually exited) and Noah Emmerich. And now the movie has lost another major actor.
Either the catering is awful or something seriously wrong is going on, as Bradley Cooper has now jumped ship. He was set to play John Bishop, the villain seeking revenge against Bill Hammond (Emmerich), who turns against his own gang, the Bishop Boys. When her husband is left with eight bullets in his back, Bill’s wife Jane (Portman) decides to grab a gun and take matters into her own hands.
The official reason for Cooper’s exit is due to scheduling conflicts between David O. Russell‘s “American Hustle” (which was delayed slightly by the Boston bombings) and promo for “The Hangover Part III,” but something tells us that given how much strife the movie has been through already, producers would’ve moved mountains to accomodate Cooper, rather than have to replace him mid-production.
Deadline says that Tobey Maguire, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hiddleston are a short (wish) list of replacements, but we’ll see how that works out. Another name previously rumored and said to be on the list is Jake Gyllenhaal, though THR says he’s already passed on it.
So another big step backward for “Jane Got A Gun.” While we hate the schadenfreude that can develop around projects like this, we really hope Vanity Fair has someone putting together a story.
The drama behind the scenes seems more interesting than the movie itself.
As far as I know, Tom Hiddleston would be just perfect for this role. He's perfect in any role, is such a terrific actor. But it would be really weird to see Portman and Hiddleston acting together. It would impossible not to relate them to Jane Foster (especially, again, playing a character named Jane) and Loki.
Well, there's nothing wrong with the idea of Tom Hiddleston being in anything. He's amazing.
Although this production seems doomed.
I'm thinking that Cooper's exit might have been planned when the casting was announced. With the Russell movie and Hangover 3 promotion duties, I thought there's no way and time he could do this, unless that shut down production and waited for him like a month or two. Probably, they just needed a big name to hold on the financiers at least temporarily, until they find the real replacement.
Someone clearly doesn't want the Emperor's New Groove to have all the glory.
"Scheduling conflicts"….I sincerely doubt it.
Just can the movie already; the replacements/back-up options keep getting worse and worse.
Wow. It will be kind of funny if the real reason everyone was dropping like flies was because they finally couldn't handle the insufferable Natalie Portman!
At this point, what I really want is a making-of documentary of this movie. The insanity just doesn't end.
At least WWZ's problems didn't surface until they were well into production. This can't even get off the ground. At the rate this going, VF will need to serialize the article.
"schadenfreude"
How erudite.
what's going on down there?! Ramsay didn't tell why she left? no doubt someone will ask her at Cannes.