I’ve been writing about “State of Play” almost since it was first announced. It was first billed as the reteaming of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton and it sounded like a fantastic project. It got even better when a great supporting cast including Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn was added to the roll call.
Then came the writer’s strike. Then came Brad Pitt’s exit due to script problems (his mostly).
Today we learn that Ed Norton has dropped out of the project as well and will be replaced by Ben Affleck. My, how far we have fallen from the lofty heights from whence we came.
Norton’s departure came as a direct result of Pitt’s problems late last month and his eventual exit from the project. Pitt was replaced with Russell Crowe which wasn’t a bad trade. Unfortunately, the time lost negotiating Pitt’s exit and Crowe’s contract forced the delay of the start of production from mid-November to sometime in January. Norton had already committed to follow “State of Playâ€Â? by playing the dual leads in “Leaves of Grass,â€Â? an independent comedy written and to be directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Norton is producing that picture with his Class 5 Films partner Bill Migliore, and Nelson. As a producer of the film there wasn’t much of a chance he would be able to drop out of that production even if he had wanted to.
Norton and Affleck’s reps worked with the studio to create an exit plan for Norton and an entrance plan (so to speak) for Affleck. So now we are left with a Ben Affleck to fill the acting shoes of an Ed Norton…hardly seems like a fair trade.
The studio isn’t out of the woods yet either. Helen Mirren also had a stop date so that she could star with Joe Pesci in the Taylor Hackford directed “Love Ranch.â€Â? They are trying to negotiate and work it out, but they could still lose yet another high profile cast member before it’s over.
I wonder how Russell Crowe is feeling about his decision to take over Brad Pitt’s role now?
