LAW ABIDING CITZEN gets ugly, real ugly & Darabont quits!

On Friday we reported that Jamie Foxx had been cast by director Frank Darabont for LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, the thriller which was announced at Cannes earlier this year. Well it appears that wasn't entirely true. Oh yes, Foxx has indeed been cast for the picture (well he's in very advanced talks, which 49 times out 50 ends up in casting) but not by Darabont... because apparently he exited the project weeks ago. AICN's trusted studio source tells them "things ended ugly" and Darabont took his ball and left. Whether it was over casting, budget concerns, lack of creative control... whether he was pushed or walked off on his accord, we can't confirm yet. Maybe it was because it wasn't based on a Stephen King novel? Kurt Wimmer's scripted thriller will star Gerard Butler as an assistant D.A. who made the controversial decision for a plea bargain, letting murderers guilty of killing a man's wife and child go free because they gave the police vital evidence. Foxx plays the devastated father who is taking the law into his own hands with a vigilante plot to take revenge on the D.A. It's a sad day because the material kind sounded a little gimmicky but in Darabont's hands it would have been a wondrous thing to see. Who could replace him? Well unless they can get John Carpenter's 70's mentality back... I'm not sure there is a better genre director out there, except maybe Sam Mendes but even this one might be too generic for him. Maybe script writer Wimmer who helmed EQUILIBRIUM and ULTRAVIOLET from his own scripts, might be the quick and easy option to step into the director's chair? Hopefully this won't now end up as a low key thriller.