Director Kenny Ortega is hanging up his dancing shoes. Ortega announced this weekend he would be pulling out of the Paramount remake of Footloose, starring Gossip Girl‘s Chace Crawford and Dancing With the Stars pro Julianne Hough.
“Coming off the extraordinary project, Michael Jackson‘s This is It, director Kenny Ortega has decided it is premature for him to commit to his next film and will not be moving forward with Footloose as previously reported,” a rep for the director said in a press statement.
Ortega and Paramount had reportedly been in a dispute over the Footloose remake over the film’s direction and budget. Paramount reportedly wanted to do the film as a drama and keep the budget as low as possible. Ortega, however, allegedly wanted to include lavish dance numbers and desired a bigger budget. Considering Ortega helmed all three High School Musical films, no big surprise there.
Zac Efron was first slated to star in the Footloose remake, taking over the role the original film’s star Kevin Bacon, but was later replaced by Crawford.
