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Mark Romanek Exits Disney's Live-Action 'Cinderella'

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This is good for Mark Romanek, bad for Disney. They just lost a great director for their live-action remake of Cinderella. But he just got freed up to do something other than a live-action remake of Cinderella! Romanek, who worked in music videos before making the great One Hour Photo and greater Never Let Me Go, was until recently attached to direct Disney’s project, starring Cate Blanchett and written by Chris Weitz and Simon Kinberg.

Says the company in a statement:

The Walt Disney Studios and Mark Romanek have parted ways on Disney’s Cinderella project. We are committed to moving the project forward and have begun the search for a new director.  The team here at Disney respects Mark as both a director and a friend, and we hope to find something to work on together in the future.

Who knows why this split has happened but it’s good for Romanek to be able to focus on something hopefully original and more interesting. Disney greenlit this film in the wake of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland‘s massive success. Is their new “thing” going to be live adaptations of their classic animated films? No thank you.

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