Monday, September 03, 2012

Motor City Halts Production

Production has been abruptly shut down on Albert Hughes' revenge drama"Motor City" says Deadline

The story follows a small time crook (Gerard Butler) who is framed and sent to jail, only to go after those who put him there after he is released wanting to get back the woman he loves. Chad St. John’s screenplay is unique in that it has limited dialogue and made it on to Hollywood’s Black List back in 2009, the list of the year’s best unproduced scripts.


First keeping the leads in this one has been hard. In March--it was reported that Jake Gyllenhaal was tipped to replace Dominic Cooper as the lead in the movie--but Jake left over scheduling concerns as well and then Butler swooped in. One time female lead Amber Heard left the same time Gary Oldman did replaced by Adrien Brody. Mickey Rourke landed a part as well.

Now the film's producers-including Joel Silver, Andrew Rona, Ethan Erwin, Randall Emmett and George Furla- know that the "hard release date" that the studio had given them meant the film would only get twelve weeks of post-production.

That's not nearly enough time to complete the visual effects. As a result it is "impossible to meet the firm March 31st delivery date without compromising the quality of the film".

Without that studio release to justify foreign distribution deals, they could not secure a bond and can not move forward.

Shooting was to kick off on September 17th--instead crew members have been told to return home.

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