We were beginning to wonder, as 24 hours had nearly passed, but yet another update has arrived in the ongoing saga of the western “Jane Got A Gun.” The film, which this week saw director Lynne Ramsay and star Jude Law quit the project, while “Warrior” director Gavin O’Connor has been hired to try to get this thing moving, is still without a villain. The project, now looking to fall a week behind schedule, is in search for a replacement, and a few names have cropped up as possible substitutes.
According to the LA Times, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Jeff Bridges are on the list of names being tossed around to step in. The role would be that of John Bishop, who shoots down Bill Hammond, a former member of the Bishop Boys, leaving his wife Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) to team up with her first love (Joel Edgerton) to seek revenge. While the choices of Gyllenhaal and Maguire make sense, and would be nice off-the-beaten-path parts for them (the latter showed he could do bad and unhinged in the underrated “Brothers“), Bridges seems like a wild card. But hey, it wouldn’t be the first time they’d age up a role, and undoubtedly the filmmakers would be thrilled if he agreed to do it. But the key is that, whoever they get, needed to be available yesterday. So in short: we’ll see.
Meanwhile, what’s going on with Ramsay? According to the Times…anything, it seems. Their sources say that Ramsay had actually “terminated her involvement” with the film on Saturday, not on Monday as was widely reported, which would mean that the “shock” from producer Scott Steindorff was perhaps overstated. But yet another source says that Ramsay actually bailed on Monday by not showing up. Meanwhile, others (again, this is unsubstantiated) say that director “was often out of contact as the movie was being prepped” which might explain the rumors of Michael Fassbender leaving after “clashing” with her. Still another says she was dealing with personal issues. But bottom line? Nobody really knows until we hear something from Ramsay’s camp.
Lastly, FilmDrunk received a tip that Steindorff instructed his assistant to reach out to folks and encourage them to leave positive comments on the Deadline stories he gave them about this whole fiasco. Again, not verified, but if true, kinda gross.