6/11/2012

Albert Hughes' 'Motor City' loses Gary Oldman and Amber Heard


Albert Hughes must have really pissed off the casting gods in a past life or something. Forget all the problems he went through with the failed live-action Akira, he's having just as much trouble casting up his crime flick, Motor City. Things started off strong with fast rising star, Dominic Cooper, in the lead role. He moved on to do another film, which led to a string of attached talent including Chris Evans, Jake Gyllenhaal(for like a day), and Jeremy Renner before finally settling on Gerard Butler. And I do mean settling.

Now it's starting all over again, only it's with the supporting cast, which had sounded quite impressive. Amber Heard and Gary Oldman have departed the film, according to Variety. While they don't give any reasons why, it likely has to do with scheduling as both are too busy to wait on the delayed production to get started. Heard should begin filming on Machete Kills soon, while Oldman will be making The Dark Knight Rises press rounds in the coming weeks. He also has a couple of projects on the way.

Motor City still has a decent hook to it, as the Chad St. John scripted film follows a petty crook framed for murder, only to get out years later seeking some payback. What's so special about that? The main character only speaks one line of dialogue the entire time. We'll see where this ends up, and I imagine it won't take long to find replacements.