The Kidd here...
Filmmakers drop out of projects all the time, finding different material they'd like to work with or experiencing some type of creative conflict with those bankrolling a film that they leave rather than produce something that doesn't represent their vision... but that usually happens in advance of the film starting production, leaving ample time for a replacement to be found for the director's chair, not on day #1.
But that's the case with JANE GOT A GUN, the indie Western starring Natalie Portman as a woman who enlists the help of her ex-lover (Joel Edgerton) in defending her home and wounded husband from the leader of a gang (Jude Law) coming to finish the job. The first day of production came up on the schedule, after some recent cast shuffling, and the director Lynne Ramsay was nowhere to be found.
Deadline reports that the WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN filmmaker is out, leaving producers Portman, Scott Steindorff, Edgerton, Law and Rodrigo Santoro scrambling to find another director to take on the film rather quickly with the film ready to go before cameras... well, literally yesterday. As for who their options are at this point, it's anyone's guess. I guess if you're sitting at home on the couch not shooting anything over the next few weeks, you might want to sit next to your phone, as you may be receiving an emergency phone call. As for Ramsay, let's just say her career may be facing some serious trouble moving ahead, as it's hard to imagine there won't be many who aren't gun shy about working with her moving forward when they have this incident in the back of their mind, regardless of her reasons.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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