Is the “Jane Got a Gun” saga officially over?
Following a legal dispute underway since last Fall, the producers of the troubled Western and director Lynne Ramsay, who vanished from the production in March 2013, have reached an agreement. Though the financial particulars remain unclear, the settlement is said to be agreeable to all. ScreenDaily reports:
“Jane Got a Gun Production LLC and Lynne Ramsay announce the pending civil action and all other disputes between the parties associated with Jane Got a Gun Motion Picture have been resolved privately and to their mutual satisfaction.”
The suit claimed that Ramsay, who didn’t show up to the first day of shooting, had been drunk, obstreperous and abusive to the cast and crew on set. Word is she cavalierly pointed a prop gun at the camera and crew of the film, which centers on a woman (Natalie Portman) who turns to an old flame for help after her outlaw husband returns home nearly dead from a gang shootout.
Shortly after Ramsay (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”) flew the coop, CAA scrambled to replace her with “Warrior” director Gavin O’Connor. And after much casting musical chairs — with Bradley Cooper, Jude Law and Michael Fassbender all decamping — Portman (also a producer on the film), Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton were finally nailed down.
Sources who spoke to the Hollywood Reporter say that Ramsay had not been presented with an approved shooting schedule, budget and script just days before the film was set to begin, while others claim that the Scottish-born director failed to deliver a script amid increasingly strange behavior.
Reportedly an impasse surrounding Ramsay’s right for final cut — if she went over-budget, her final cut would be revoked — resulted in her drop-out. More details here, with the LA Times’ sources in accordance with THR’s. Her departure was kept secret from star Natalie Portman, who originally enlisted the stylish director of “We Need to Talk About Kevin” to take on the project.
After a bidding war at Cannes 2012, Relativity and the Weinstein Company nabbed distribution rights to the film, now in post-production. Ramsay is in Greece working on her next film, and has yet to publicly comment about the belabored lawsuit.
Case closed? We’ll see.
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