Rupert Wyatt Left GAMBIT Because He Would Allegedly Rather Walk Away Than Deal With Studio Exec Meddling



Let this be a cautionary tale of how hard it is to "make it" as a director in today's Hollywood landscape. Of course you can work on smaller indie films and have lots of control but when you make it to the big leagues it's still a cut throat world of dealing with studio executives who want to make sure their hundreds of millions are well spent.

Please understand this report is headlined with the word 'allegedly' because director Rupert Wyatt has not commented on any of the report from The Hollywood Reporter about why he left GAMBIT.

THR writes:

"What seems to have happened on Gambit and other films is that when Wyatt has been unable to convince the studios to sign on to his vision, his anxiety mounts and he leaves. During the past few years, he has dropped out of projects at every major studio except Disney (where he has had none). One top exec who has worked with Wyatt says the director 'is not a tortured guy" but rather is 'a very gentle soul, very considerate.' He continues: 'I think he's a very principled guy. He wants to make the best version of something, and he's so desperately afraid of making something not good that it's easier to walk away than be pushed by committee.'"

When it was first reported Wyatt left GAMBIT, it was cited as a conflict of interest in scheduling. Wyatt had alleged budget concerns about the X-Men movie and its production schedule was/is reportedly delayed from October to early 2016. Whether this is just PR talk or the truth is really unknown outside of Wyatt and Fox's execs knowledge.

But the real story here is that Wyatt has walked away from big movies in the past. After he helmed Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and put that franchise back on the radar, he has walked away from many movie projects when execs intervene with his vision. It is studio money so this is commonplace in the film industry. More directors should walk away when they feel like a film they were told they can make suddenly cannot due to executive meddling. Edgar Wright did it with ANT-MAN and that movie still worked out really well. Sadly, Josh Trank did not recognize this with FANTASTIC FOUR and he would have saved his rep had he walked away too.

The morale of this story is that while some may see Wyatt as a guy who might be too auteur about his work, that's a rare trait which should be commended. Not all people can work in a big budget movie structure where there is sure to be a larger studio committee looking to dip their paws into a script and story due to money or what they think is a better story. Sometimes it's just better to walk away and save yourself the stress and your directorial rep.

To read THR's entire post about Wyatt leaving GAMBIT, click here.