Nicole Holofcener Talks “Traumatic” & “Terrible” Experience Leaving The Production Of ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

Nicole Holofcener is having a great year already. Her recent film for Netflix, “The Land of Steady Habits,” is a return to form for the filmmaker, who last directed a film in 2013. However, the five-year gap between “Enough Said” and her next feature film might have been a lot shorter if she was able to make “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” And in a new report from Indiewire, Holofcener talks the reasons for leaving that project and how it all worked out for the best with Marielle Heller taking over the directing duties.

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“I felt I had already made it,” Holofcener revealed. “Every outfit, every location, every actor cast. It was a labor of love. It was traumatic. Terrible.”

The reason for her departure from the Lee Israel biopic was due to Julianne Moore. The Academy Award-winning actress was all set to star in the lead role opposite Chris O’Dowd, but it all fell apart when six days before filming was to begin, Moore backed out due to “creative differences” and Holofcener and the studio was left to pick up the pieces.

Eventually, due to the “traumatic” nature of the process, the director left the production and focused on ‘Steady Habits’ and “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” director Marielle Heller was brought aboard. And according to Heller, Holofcener gave her seal of approval.

“If anyone is going to make this movie, I’m glad it’s you. It’s yours, go for it,” Heller recalls Holofcener telling her when the decision was made.

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It appears that everything worked out for the best, as ‘Steady Habits’ seems to be a great film for Holofcener and fresh off the festival circuit, Heller’s version of “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” starring Melissa McCarthy in Moore’s old role, has been getting rave reviews.

However, even with the great reviews, there are people saying that considering the characters in the film are both gay, Holofcener should have been replaced by a gay filmmaker, instead of Heller. Star McCarthy wholeheartedly disagrees, saying, “I can’t imagine any person directing it other than Mari. Being a storyteller, you don’t have to be the person you’re telling a story about, I don’t agree with that. Someone gay could have told it differently, but I don’t subscribe to the idea that a movie about karate be made by a karate master. Mari is an incredible filmmaker. I don’t think anyone could have done it better.”

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“I understand wanting to tell your own stories,” said Heller. “It was a privilege to get to tell Lee’s story. But I didn’t think of it as a gay story, but a woman’s story. I felt related and connected to her. My beloved aunt in Florida was in my head a lot; she is the funniest person, and a lesbian; she’s not as dark as Lee. I get connected to these characters, they are part of my life, even if I am not them.”

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” hits theaters on October 19.