Will Smith in, Kristen Stewart out for 'Focus'

When Glenn Ficarra and John Requa began putting together the pieces for their crime comedy, Focus, the plan was to reunite the stars of their hit film, Crazy Stupid Love. But securing Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone proved to be difficult, and so they aimed a bit older, landing Ben Affleck for the lead role, followed soon after by Kristen Stewart. As Affleck got busier with that whole Argo thing, he backed out, and now the film has experienced another major casting shake up.

Will Smith has is in final negotiations to replace Affleck in the film, but as he's coming aboard Stewart has headed for the exits.  It's a fairly safe move for the picky Smith, who famously shot down the title role in Django Unchained, as the story sounds pretty harmless. He'll play a veteran con man who has a brief romance with a young upstart, only to have their past relationship become a problem when they meet up years later during a major score. Ficarra and Requa will write the script as well as direct.

Without Stewart it'll be interesting to see if Warner Bros. decides to go for similarly young female lead, or if they go for someone closer to Smith's age and stature. Production on Focus will likely begin soon as Smith will have press commitments to After Earth coming up. [THR]