Joel Schumacher has a bit of a problem. His new film Trespass was due to shoot later this month, but according to Deadline, star Nicolas Cage ‘abruptly backed out of the film late last week and then left on vacation – apparently to the Bahamas’.
He gave no explanation as to why he was bailing, and apparently can’t be reached. There’s speculation the problem is that he’s burnt out, or perhaps he’s just having second thoughts about the movie, but either way it appears he won’t be making the movie. However with everything else locked in, including star Nicole Kidman and the crew, Millennium Films is determined to keep going, and so now need to find another person to star, at extremely short notice.
The film is about a husband and wife taken hostage by thieves looking for an easy payday, but things quickly get out of hand. Kidman will play the wife, while Cage was originally set to be the husband, but a few weeks ago decided he wanted to play the villain. Currently an offer is out to Liev Schreiber for the husband role, but he’s yet to accept or decline.
Millennium needs to find someone quick, as it’s likely the financing was partly dependent on having someone of Cage’s calibre in the role, so they need to find somebody of equal status, and they’ve only got a few weeks to do it. At the moment they’re determined, but everything could still fall apart.