I was talking with CHUD’s own Jeremy Smith about White Jazz the other day, saying how excited I was for it. Jeremy said he had heard that the project was in trouble; I laughed it off, saying that if George Clooney wanted to make the movie, the movie would get made.
George Clooney has dropped out of White Jazz. I don’t know why I ever bother to contradict Jeremy – he knows shit.
This is certainly bad, bad news for the film, which was supposed to start filming early next year. In just one week director Joe Carnahan has lost his lead and his co-lead (Chris Pine went off to star as Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek film). Clooney’s very busy the next few months, with the new Coen Brothers movie filming, getting back to work on retooling Leatherheads and probably doing some kind of awards flogging for Michael Clayton. "It just simply came down to scheduling," Clooney’s producing partner, Grant Heslov, told Entertainment Weekly. "George continues to believe in the project and in Joe."
Nobody’s saying if Clooney is still involved as a producer on the film.
I’m feeling for Joe Carnahan right now; Clooney was great casting for this film, and it’s been talked about for a year or more at this point. To have that ace in the hole and then lose it… The reality is that this could mean White Jazz simply folds, another coulda-woulda-shoulda movie in Joe Carnahan’s growing phantom filmography. Fingers are crossed on my end.
(Note from Jeremy: I wish I would’ve been wrong about this one. Hopefully, this bumps Killing Pablo to the fast track.)