It’s can’t be a good feeling to have an actress you admire (and have worked with before) up and opt out of a role you’ve written just for her. So I imagine all is not well with Kevin Smith today, considering that Rosario Dawson has stated that she will be too busy bathing in the white hot glow of Shia LaBeouf on the set of D.J. Caruso’s Eagle Eye to appear in the rotund poet of Red Bank’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Don’t believe me? Well, fuck you! Also, here’s Rosario confirming as much over at the MTV Movies Blog:
“It’s going to be a really interesting film. I don’t think I’m going to be a part of it. He wrote it for me, but I’m just signing on to do [Eagle Eye] and that’s going to be shooting from November to March.”
November to March!?!? Last I checked, this was a modest Hitchcockian thriller, not War and Peace and Zhivago. I’ve got to think Smith will be shooting quickly and cheaply; you’re telling me there’s no way you can squeeze in his ribald little comedy, Rosario?
Given that Spielberg is producing Eagle Eye (and came up with the story), I doubt Caruso will adjust his shooting schedule to accommodate Smith. But might Smith delay the start of Zack and Miri to, say, February for Dawson’s convenience? This would be quite a concession (and impact the pre-strike start date for Smith’s other upcoming project, Red State), but he did write the part for her after all.
Smith has yet to comment on Dawson’s comments, but I’m sure the comment-happy writer-director will have some kind of retort in the next twenty-four. In the meantime, there’s always Shannyn Sossamon!