Warrior and Pride and Glory director Gavin O'Connor is stepping in to helm Jane Got A Gun after Lynne Ramsay shockingly
exited the Western thriller yesterday when she didn't turn up for the first day of filming, according to
Deadline. Although from the outside looking in the hiring looks to be a particularly astute one given the calibre of Ramsey's replacement - the highly unusual ramifications of yesterday has also cost the production the services of actor Jude Law. Turning up to start work without a director in sight yesterday was enough for him to bail. The actor himself had only just replaced originally cast Michael Fassbender who left the film last week.
Screen Daily claims Fassbender left the film because he fell out with the director and this was ultimately the catalyst for the circumstances that led to Ramsay's exit. Natalie Portman (who leads the film and is also producing), Joel Edgerton and Rodrigo Santoro, who were all ready to start filming yesterday, remain on board. Filming was now expected to start as early as tomorrow (Thursday) in New Mexico but now Law's gone, that seems improbable at best. Jane Got a Gun centers on a woman (Portman) who must ask an ex-lover (Edgerton) for help in order to save her outlaw husband from a gang who are out to kill him. Law's role was as the leader of the Bishop gang, the main villain of the piece. Producer/backer Scott Steindorff of Scott Pictures did promise yesterday that he and producer Portman would find a replacement for Ramsay swiftly, and they have duly lived up to that claim, and had importantly kept those expensive production delays to a minimum. That was until the sucker punch of Law's exit. The challenge for O'Connor is now to get familiar with rookie Brian Duffield's script in record time, get a replacement for Law before Monday and bring a sense of normality back to a troubled production.