In another blow to Jane Got a Gun, star Jude Law has left the production just a day after director Lynne Ramsay abruptly exited the film.
Law’s departure is directly tied to Ramsay’s exit — the 40-year-old English actor signed on for the film to work with Ramsay , who directed the 2011 film adaptation of We Need to Talk About Kevin. The novel on which the film was based was written in 2003 and deals with a fictional school massacre. The story is told from the perspective of the killer’s mother, Eva, who writes letters to her estranged husband, Franklin, as she tries to come to terms with the murders their son has committed.
While the film was quickly able to get a new director in Gavin O’Connor , the producers have been trying to hold the cast together amid the exit of the film’s second big star. Michael Fassbender pulled out of the film a week ago , most likely due to a scheduling conflict with X-Men: Days of Future Past . Fassbender was replaced by Joel Edgerton, who worked with O’Connor on the 2011 film Warrior.
The producers of the film had to gather the crew and cast — which includes Natalie Portman, who is also a producer, Edgerton, and Rodrigo Santoro — on the first day of filming and tell them that Ramsay had dropped out after nine months of development. Her departure came after a weekend of negotiating twists and turns.
“I have millions of dollars invested, we’re ready to shoot, we have a great script, crew and cast,” producer and financier Scott Steindorff told Deadline ‘s Mike Fleming Jr. Tuesday. “I’m shocked and so disappointed someone would do this to 150 crew members who devoted so much time, energy, commitment and loyalty to a project, and then have the director not show up.”
Steindorff added that he had a litigator on retainer and that Ramsay could be facing legal action for dropping out.
Are you surprised that Jane Got a Gun has had so many problems before it even started filming? Are you surprised that Jude Law has withdrawn from the film?
[Photo credit: cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com ]
