have been well documented. David O. Russell was initially attached to write and direct, but eventually dropped out. That left Mike White(Year of the Dog
) in place to helm, but he was only there for a hot minute before he too departed. And let's not even talk about the issues they've had finding someone to play the Jane Austen's famous lead character of Elizabeth Bennet, reimagined as a butt kicking ninja broad in a tight corset. Natalie Portman(also a producer) once had the role, but left, and Emma Stone flat out said no. It was starting to look like the film was cursed until Craig Gillespie(Lars and the Real Girl
) signed on to direct back in April. Well, somebody better get out the chicken blood and frog legs because this curse is still in full effect mode.Twitch is reporting that Gillespie has now left the project for unknown reasons. We aren't sure if he left on his own or if the studio punted him out after the dismal response to his Fright Night
remake. If it's the latter, then causes another interesting ripple because his Fright Night scribe, Marti Noxon, was doing rewrites on O. Russell's initial script. So if he's gone because Fright Night bombed, chances are she might be too. So it remains to be seen what happens now. Back when the film was still in it's earliest stages there was talk of Grahame-Smith possible directing it himself. Maybe that's the final option left if this thing's ever going to happen. Perhaps the saddest part about this set back is that the film has a leading man who is probably more in demand than he'll ever be, and that's Dominic Cooper(The Devil's Double
), who recently signed to play Fitzwilliam Darcy. My personal thought is that the film should just quietly go away, but that's partially because I tried to read the book and found it to be dull as dried wood. At least Grahame-Smith can be happy with Timur Bekmambetov's adaption of his other novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
.
