Director Michael Winterbottom exits Will Ferrell comedy biopic Russ & Roger

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

According to The Wrap, Michael Winterbottom has dropped out of directing RUSS & ROGER, STX Entertainment's planned buddy comedy biopic starring Will Ferrell as filmmaker Russ Meyer and Josh Gad as movie critic Roger Ebert, due to creative differences. But the site says STX will likely hire a new director soon, and that the film will still kick off production in early 2016 as originally planned.

RUSS & ROGER has been described as "a debaucherous comedy centering on two outsiders who defied the Hollywood establishment and made one of the first X-rated films (BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS) ever released by a major movie studio, having the party of a lifetime in the process." The Simpsons and MADtv's Christopher Cluess initially penned the script for the film, with subsequent rewrites by Winterbottom and Neil and Rob Gibbons (Veep, Alan Partridge).

There's no word on when RUSS & ROGER might hit theaters, but since filming for it is expected to begin early next year, it will probably open either late 2016 or sometime in 2017.