'Motor City', the film that was set to star both Gerard Butler and Adrien Brody together, has been halted during pre-produciton. Vulture is reporting that the reasons for this are financial - apparently, the crew was sent home after financial backers decided that they could not meet the tight schedule set by Warner Brothers, and have instead decided to pull out. These financial backers included Emmet/Furla Films, Mark Damon's Foresight Entertainment, and Envision Entertainment.
A spokesperson released a statement saying "Faced with the realities of a very short post-production schedule and complicated visual and special effects, the producers have decided to push back production on Albert Hughes’ Motor City. We are dedicated to delivering top-tier productions such as 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg which is currently in production and Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor which is in pre-production. The circumstances surrounding this project made it impossible to meet the firm March 31st delivery date without compromising the quality of the film."
Deadline's Nikki Finke, on the other hand, is saying that insiders have told her that there is still interest in making the film. This shows an increasing trend of financial backers starting to pull out of studio films when they don't think the risk is worth it - studios should start considering this and make sure to allow a film plenty of time for pre-production, production, and most importantly, post-production. Tight turnaround times can result in a well-shot movie turning into a bad one.
