Gerard Butler's good news and bad news

Bad news first: Gerard's upcoming film Law Abiding Citizen just lost it's director Frank Darabont. Considering that he directed The Shawshank Redemption, I'd say the film lost a damn fine director. According to Ain't it Cool News the relationship between the film and its director “ended ugly” and Darabont quit, but no further details have been forthcoming.

Elizabeth Rappe from MTV goes on to speculate:

Could the shifting storylines be part of the problem? When the film was first announced, as part of Gerard Butler’s Evil Twins production shingle, Butler was starring as an assistant D.A. who found himself in the center of a traumatized victim’s vigilante plot. When Darabont’s name became attached, the vigilante had been replaced by a criminal mastermind, who was controlling the city from the confines of his cell. (A good fit for Darabont, who likes a good prison drama.) When Foxx signed on, the plot had shifted back to the vigilante storyline, with Foxx playing the vigilante hellbent for justice.

While this frees Darabont to work on something else, such as his Stephen King adaptation “The Long Walk,” or his long-delayed “Fahrenheit 451,” it’s a disappointing blow to the film. This is Butler’s first producing gig, and it can’t feel very good to lose your director weeks before you were planning to start shooting. And where does it both leave Butler and Foxx, who may have passed on other roles for this? Who will take the director’s job, and how fast can they hire him or her? So many questions, so few answers.

Now for the good news: RocknRolla had the highest theater average in its limited American release with $6,053 or $42,372 at seven theaters. Since opening last Wednesday RocknRolla has earned over $101,300. If the film keeps making money, then hopefully Warner Bros. will take the hint and release it in more than 800 theaters in the US.

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