10 directors who dropped out of high profile movies

Big quitters

Youd imagine directors were queuing up round the block to get a shot at making a Star Wars film. But it turns out that the gig isnt for everyone. Chronicle director Josh Trank, who was lined up to helm the second Star Wars Anthology, recently announced that he was leaving the project, after working on it for a year with Lucasfilm.

If were honest, we've probably all been in a similar situation. Sometimes, what sounds like a dream job on paper turns out to be more of a nightmare, either because the work isn't what we expected, or our colleagues aren't as friendly as we expected, or just because the commute is painfully long and difficult. Hollywood directors, it seems, aren't much different; Trank's far from the first to drop out of a high profile movie. Here are ten others, and the reasons why they left

Darren Aronofsky

The movie: The Wolverine (2013).

George Cukor

The movie: Gone With The Wind (1939).

Reasons for quitting: Movies dont get much bigger than the American Civil War epic Gone With The Wind. But production was troubled from the outset. Director George Cukor got three weeks into shooting before problems on set became too serious for him to continue; a terse statement issued by Cukor and producer David O. Selznick explained that as a result of a series of disagreements between us over many of the individual scenes of Gone With The Wind, we have mutually decided that the only solution is for a new director to be selected at as early a date as is practicable.

Vincent Ward

The movie: Alien 3 (1992).

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

The movies: Highlander and The Crow (2016).

Reasons for quitting: Quitting one high profile remake is one thing, but quitting two in quick succession is quite another. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was set to direct a reboot of 90s goth favourite The Crow, but when he was also called in to replace Justin Lin as director of a Highlander reboot, scheduling conflicts led him to quit. And then he dropped out of Highlander, too, citing creative differences.

Michelle MacLaren

The movie: Wonder Woman (2017).

Patty Jenkins

The movie: Thor: The Dark World (2013).

Edgar Wright

The movie: Ant-Man (2015).

Reasons for quitting: Another director who quit a massive superhero movie, Edgar Wrights departure came as a real shock, because Wright had been working with Marvel to develop the property since around 2006. And as well as taking the directors chair, hed also co-written the script. Somewhere along the line, though, Marvel must have changed their minds about what they wanted from the movie: the official line on why he and the studio had parted ways was that it was all down to differences in their vision of the film.

Mark Romanek

The movie: The Wolfman (2010).

Reasons for quitting: Theres no need to read between the lines of official statements to find the reasons for Mark Romaneks departure from Universals monster movie reboot hes been pretty candid about it in interviews. The film was dramatically under-budgeted, hes said, explaining that the script he had to work from wouldve required an extra $30-40 million more than he had. The WGA strike compounded the problem since the script couldnt be changed, and Romanek decided it was best to just walk away.

Sam Taylor-Johnson

The movie: Fifty Shades Darker (2017).

Reasons for quitting: After the commercial success of her adaptation of Fifty Shades Of Grey, it wouldnt have been surprising for Sam Taylor-Johnson to stay at the helm for the sequels. But she bowed out. And though her official statement was effusive Directing Fifty Shades Of Grey has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful, she said, going on to thank Universal and her cast and crew in other interviews she admitted to finding the process of adapting the controversial novel deeply stressful.

Guillermo del Toro

The movie: The Hobbit (2012 2014).