The Grey was a surprise hit when it was released last January, making more than three times its budget by the end of its global theatrical run, but director Joe Carnahan has been struck with some bad luck since. While the filmmaker had been talking to 20th Century Fox about a potential gritty reboot of the superhero Daredevil, the project couldn't come together quick enough and the rights to the character reverted back to Marvel Studios.
But then came the announcement that Carnahan would be working on a remake of the Charles Bronson classic Death Wish. While the news wasn't greeted too warmly by fans of the original, the director seemed enthusiastic about the opportunity and had an exciting visual aesthetic already in mind, with the idea of moving the story t0 Los Angeles and approaching the city similar to the way Nicolas Winding Refn did with 2011's Drive. But sadly it seems as though he'll never get to realize that vision.
Deadline is reporting that Carnahan and Paramount-MGM have parted ways over the Death Wish remake, citing creative differences in the casting. While the site doesn't mention who the director wanted to play the lead, apparently the studio was pushing for him to cast Bruce Willis. What this means for the future of the project is unknown.
Following the news reveal, Carnahan Tweeted the following:
But don't worry about the filmmaker - he has more than a few titles in the hopper to keep him busy for a while, including the Groundhog Day-esque Continue, the adaptation of the graphic novel Undying Love, and the action movie Stretch with Patrick Wilson. The new report even says that he is thinking about Narco Sub, a film that had been one of Tony Scott's in-development projects before he died. It won't be long before Carnahan's name is stretched across the silver screen again.
