Reese vs. Smokin Joe

Five weeks before filming on BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING was scheduled to begin, the flick’s star and producer herself has gone missing. Reese Witherspoon has abruptly pulled out of the project for unknown reasons leaving director Joe Carnahan (SMOKIN’ ACES) pretty effin pissed. Carnahan had been scrambling to get BUNNY ready to shoot before hit next commitment WHITE JAZZ, which was to go before cameras later this summer. Even more surprising is that Witherspoon and Carnahan share the same manager although there are reports that, in the wake of this disaster, Carnahan has moved on to new representation. The project was based on the 1965 Otto Preminger film about a woman who reports her daughter missing only to find out, through the ensuing investigation, that she may not have even had a daughter. Witherspoon had been developing the project at Regency since 2003 making it all the more shocking that she’d drop out so close to the start of production. Carnahan will reportedly to a brief search to find a suitable replacement for Witherspoon but if one cannot be found quickly, the project will likely go back into development hell while Carnahan reshifts his focus to JAZZ.