Seems that Tony Scott won’t be feeling Déjà Vu after all. The British director today left the new Jerry Bruckheimer thriller, citing scheduling and logistical problems.
Not surprising, really – the romantic thriller, about an FBI agent who finds he can travel back in time and then falls in love with an about-to-be-murdered woman – was set in New Orleans, which was of course ravaged by Hurricane Katrina just a few weeks ago.
The movie was scheduled to start shooting today, but Scott’s departure has pushed the kick-off date back to a tentative mid-January, while backers Disney, Bruckheimer and star Denzel Washington vet a new script and a list of replacement directors.
It’s likely that a new location will also be found. Originally, the movie was set in San Francisco, but tax issues and a key sequence involving a ferry and a dock prompted the move to New Orleans.
A move from New Orleans, though likely, might still not happen for two reasons – it could well drive the budget up further from its current $75 million mark, and there might be some concern about the loss of financial injection the movie would bring to a region that so desperately needs it right now.
Déjà vu is the first movie to be scuttled directly by Hurricane Katrina, although rumours suggest that the script for the in development Die Hard 4.0 also featured a major action sequence set in the city. Expect that to have gone long before the Bruce Willis action movie hits the screen.
Needless to say, we’ll keep you posted on developments on both movies.