JONAH HEX re-shoots, Warners bring in new director to "consult"

Bloody Disgusting have it confirmed that Jonah Hex is to go through extensive additional re-shoots. Usually this would be time to declare next year's Warner Bros. summer tentpole as a lost cause but it's "additional re-shoots" that's scheduled, and explicitly not a re-do of what Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears A Who!) filmed earlier this year. I think that's the state of play anyway. Re-shooting will take place between Jan. 18th and Feb. 1st, with the June 18th 2010 release date still in tact, and from the sounds of things a major part of it will be Hex backstory, just to beef up the origins of our disfigured gun-slinging bounty hunter. I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence, the WB go-to-guy (he is attached to about a dozen movies at the studio) has been brought in to make sure Hayward is doing everything right with the new weeks of filming. Officially his role is to "consult", but you just have to wonder if WB have paid Lawrence to basically take-over the production without actually going through the process of firing anyone. If Lawrence's involvement is going to be heavy then Hayward would be better off by staging a public walk out, saying his vision is being compromised, rather than showing weakness by letting another director butcher what he made. Of course this is just me thinking out loud because as of yet, we know nothing really, and the fact Hayward is still on board probably hints to the fact that Lawrence is just helping out. A favour for a friend. Nothing more.