With what will likely be the most financially successful project of his career, “The Fighter,” hitting theaters this fall, David O. Russell is not lacking for a choice of projects to follow it up with. But it looks like he’s walking away from one he has been linked to for the better part of the year.
NYMag reports that scheduling conflicts forced Russell’s hand to exit the director’s chair for “Pride And Prejudice And Zombies” so he could make the previously announced comedy, “Old St. Louis.” ‘Zombies’ producer and star Natalie Portman apparently couldn’t make the start date Russell was shooting for so he ultimately opted to leave the project and film ‘St. Louis’ next March.
The film is set to star Vince Vaughn who will play “a divorced traveling toy salesman who reconnects with his teen daughter after years on the road.” Vaughn would play the salesman, with Scarlett Johansson eyeing the role of his lover and secretary who joins him on a cross-country jaunt. Johansson was announced earlier this year to be joining the cast, but with the film now shooting in March, her commitment to “The Avengers” has forced her out of the film. That said, the scheduling now makes it more likely that Chloe Moretz, linked to play the daughter, will be taking part in the film.
While we would’ve loved to see a ‘Zombies’ pic helmed by Russell, it’s no great loss either. The director is at his sharpest when chronicling dysfunctional relationships and ‘St. Louis’ looks to be right in his comfort zone. In fact, even though the project has been kicking around for years with scripts by Steve Pink (“Grosse Pointe Blank,” “High Fidelity” ) and Allen Loeb (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”), it’s been given a complete overhaul by Russell who wrote a new script and will be receiving the only writing credit on the project. And at the very least, we hope it at least marks a return-to-form of sorts for Vaughn who has seriously been phoning it in for his last half dozen or so movies.