I want to program a ‘Brad Pitt dropped out of a movie’ macro on my computer*. The guy seems to always be pulling out of projects, from Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain to Almost Famous to The Departed, and now he’s added another to the list of ‘Could Have Been**’ movies: State of Play. This was to be the film that would reunite him with Edward Norton, his Fight Club co-star/alter ego.
Based on a British miniseries, State of Play had been in the middle of a long game of screenplay ping pong – it had started with Matthew Carnahan, gone to Tony Gilroy and recently gone BACK to Carnahan. It was supposedly Pitt who brought Gilroy in, and his leaving the project now is based on the script; he’s just not happy with it. The movie was supposed to start shooting last week, but Pitt was stalling, apparently taking long and serious meetings with director Kevin Macdonald, but I guess they went nowhere. Now Universal is left holding the ball, with a Carnahan script that can’t be changed because of the strike and a deadline of November 29 to cast a new star and start shooting, since the other actors in the film – including Jason Bateman, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright Penn – will have to start dropping out as other scheduled projects demand their attention. It’s a sticky wicket. Can the movie survive losing Pitt at this stage? Macdonald should call Aronofsky for some sympathy and some advice.
*other macros: ‘Guillermo del Toro is attached to direct a new movie’ and ‘Vic Morrow is bisectual’
** Or ‘Could Of Been’ if you’re a moron