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  • Chace Crawford attends the premiere of ‘The Stepfather’ at the SVA Theater, NYC, October 12, 2009
  • Kenny Ortega attends the ‘High School Musical 3’ Photocall during the 3rd Rome International Film Festival in Rome on October 26, 2008
  • Zac Efron poses at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards Press Room at Gibson Amphitheatre on May 31, 2009 in Universal City, California

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    Chace Crawford attends the premiere of ‘The Stepfather’ at the SVA Theater, NYC, October 12, 2009

  • Getty Images

    Kenny Ortega attends the ‘High School Musical 3’ Photocall during the 3rd Rome International Film Festival in Rome on October 26, 2008

  • Getty Images

    Zac Efron poses at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards Press Room at Gibson Amphitheatre on May 31, 2009 in Universal City, California
 
 

FIRST PUBLISHED: October 26, 2009 9:15 AM EDT
LAST UPDATED: October 26, 2009 9:22 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

First Zac Efron leaves the “Footloose” reboot and now director Kenny Ortega has reportedly left the movie as well.

According to Variety, the director, who helmed the Michael Jackson concert film “This Is It,” parted from the project due to differences with Paramount over budget and tone.

“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 statement.

According to a Variety source, Kenny wanted to make a musical heavy movie with “elaborately staged musical numbers,” which was slated to reportedly cost around $30 million. The studio reportedly had an edgier movie in mind with less musical numbers, costing around $25 million.

Paramount is reportedly searching for a new director and will start production in March, in order to coincide with Chace Crawford’s hiatus from “Gossip Girl. Chace replaced Zac after he hung up his dancing shoes on the project.

Copyright 2009 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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