Jake Gyllenhaal Leaves Motor City

Studio wasn't willing to push back the Spring start date for the actor and a new leading man is required for the B-movie thriller that will co-star Gary Oldman and Amber Heard.

Did Jake Gyllenhaal just have a bad night's sleep or something? Just one day after replacing Dominic Cooper as the lead of B-movie thriller Motor City, the actor has exited the project citing scheduling issues for his departure. It turns out Gyllenhaal was under the impression that his attachment to the film would convince the producers Dark Castle to push the Spring start date back to accommodate the film star but the studio weren't having it, told him it was now or never, and Gyllenhaal just the latter. The search is back on for Dark Castle to find a leading man who can play the ex-military vet/petty criminal who is framed for a crime he didn't commit and once being freed from the slammer, takes revenge on the guys who put him there. Yes, it does sound like every other revenge thriller ever made and indeed Christian Bale has just signed up for a project that sounds very similar to this one (speaking of which that project had actors like Channing Tatum and Taylor Kitsch circling supporting roles, either you could see leading this project easily) but there's an added carrot on the end of the stick for potential actors who need convincing; Amber Heard is already set for the girlfriend part (that alone would do it for us) and Gary Oldman will reprise his familiar bad guy routine as the kingpin who kidnaps her. Plus there was reports a while back that Motor City would get one up on this past year€™s cult thriller Drive where the lead character only had one single line of dialogue in the whole Chad St. John written Black listed script. I€™m not sure how good an idea that is but this one is hopeful of finding the same cool-vibe that Drive managed last year. Albert Hughes (co-director of From Hell and The Book of Eli... now going solo) directs. source - deadline
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Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.