David O. Russell walks out again, this time on Pride And Prejudice And Zombies

By Sean O'Neal | October 5, 2010 | 9:02pm

Aux Features Film

Proving that there is no project big or blockbuster-y enough for David O. Russell to just up and walk away from, the director has exited Pride And Prejudice And Zombies after being unable to resolve a scheduling conflict with star and executive producer Natalie Portman. There’s obviously no word yet on who may take over the planned adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s Austen-meets-the-undead novel now—or whether this means the film will be made before the big-screen version of Grahame-Smith's very similar Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter burns everyone out on this whole monster mash-up gimmick—but what we do know is that Russell chose instead to work on the Vince Vaughn-starring Old St. Louis instead, which sounds vaguely like a Gene Kelly-style musical but probably isn’t.

Unfortunately, all this shifting around has cost Old St. Louis its female lead in Scarlett Johansson, who now won’t be able to meet Russell’s start date. The new schedule, however, seems to have cleared things up for Chloe Moretz, who initially had to pass on the film because she’s currently filming one movie per every precious childhood memory she’s losing, but who will now be able to sign back on as Vaughn’s estranged teenage daughter. So basically, every time David O. Russell walks out of something, it rains in Brazil, or something like that.