And another Albert Hughes film crashes and burns. With filming a mere three weeks away, the plug has been pulled on his vengeance thriller, Motor City, possibly closing the book on what has been one of the more troubled productions of the year. Originally set for Dominic Cooper in the lead role of a guy seeking revenge on those who framed him, with the hook being that the protagonist only gets one line of dialogue. Cooper would eventually drop out, quickly followed by Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeremy Renner taking over before Gerard Butler was finally settled on. The film also lost Gary Oldman and Amber Heard, with new additions Mickey Rourke and Adrien Brody barely having signed on before the other shoe dropped.
Strangely enough, the reason for the shut down has nothing to do with all the casting woes, but some rather intricate behind-the-scenes dealings. Although no official release date has ever been announced, Warner Bros. had apparently given the film's producers a hard March 31st deadline. That date was set to coincide with the foreign distribution deals that were in place, but the producers realized that it gave them too short of a time window for successful post-production. With the admission that the March 31st date couldn't be hit, the film was unable to secure a bond, and that puts us where we are today.
Now, this in and of itself doesn't mean the movie is dead. The producers released a statement saying that the start date was being pushed back, and since Warner Bros. is merely doing distribution, Motor City should still have all of its funding. The problem is that a delay like this could cause them to lose the few stars they've managed to, and a downgrade in talent obviously could hurt the film's prospects of success. Most financiers I know don't want to invest in a money losing project, so we'll just have to wait and see how this whole thing develops. [Deadline]
