The situation isn't looking good for the Will Smith-led drama, Collateral Beauty, which has had a fluid pre-production process for the last few months. Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara were initially set to star, with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon making it his follow-up. Jackman bowed out and was replaced by Smith, only for Mara to also bail. Not a good sign, and things just got signifcantly worse with another major exit.
Now it's Gomez-Rejon who has departed the project due to...wait for it..."creative differences". That's all the information Deadline has at this point, but what's clear is that something is up with that film behind-the-scenes. While Smith is still attached for now, there hasn't even been speculation on who could replace Mara.
The story is written by Allan Loeb and centers on a New York ad exec going through a terrible depression, only for his colleagues to come up with an unconventional method to break him out of it. Sounds like the kind of populist, feel-good movie that should be an easy sell, especially with someone like Smith on board, so you can bet New Line will try everything to get it back on track.
