I know a lot of money is at stake, but Hollywood often makes moviemaking seem farcically complicated. Surely there must be some way to simplify things a bit? If all had gone to plan, we’d be gearing up for the release of a remake of Footloose in the next couple of month, starring Zac Efron and directed by High School Musical’s Kenny Ortega.
However Efron dropped out about a year ago as he didn’t want to want another music-centric teen flick, and then a few months later Ortega also dropped the project, citing creative differences with the studio. By that point, Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford had signed on to take over the lead role, with shooting scheduled to begun just about now. Without a director however, that didn’t happen
Now it’s months later and Paramount are still desperately trying to pull things together so they can actually make a movie. Variety reports that the studio has hired Craig Brewer to direct the film. The helmer of Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan may seem an odd choice for a teen-centric movie about dancing, but the studio obviously has faith in him. Paramount now wants to start shooting this summer, but this throws another spanner in the works, as Chace Crawford has conflicts with his TV commitments and so had been forced to drop out.
It’s starting to seem this movie is cursed to have a director or a lead actor, but never both at the same time. However Brewer will now start looking around for someone else the star in the in film about a town where dancing is banned. Are there any teen heartthrobs left who aren’t already committed to other movies this summer?