Director Damon Szifron exits The Six Billion Dollar Man
Although the film was set to begin shooting this summer, The Six Billion Dollar Man is now actively searching for a new director following the exit of Damian Szifron, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The adaptation of the hit ’70s sci-fi series has been in the works for over 20 years now, with the most recent progress having been made in 2014 when The Weinstein Company announced pre-production had started on the film with Mark Wahlberg (Patriots Day) attached to star in the lead role and frequent Wahlberg-collaborator Peter Berg (Deepwater Horizon) in the director’s chair. However, Berg left the project and was replaced with Szifron set to make his American debut as the co-writer and director on the film.
Filming was delayed when the rights for the film were sold by The Weinstein Company in December 2017 to Warner Bros. in the latter’s attempts to keep their business open following the infamous Harvey Weinstein scandal, with production set to resume this summer. Despite Szifron’s exit, however, Warner Bros. is still planning to try and keep the original shooting schedule in place, with Mel Gibson already in mind as a potential replacement, as he’s been eyeing the supporting role of Oscar Goldman, the director of the fictional government agency OSI and mentor of titular character Steve Austin.
No official announcement has been made as to the cause of Szifron’s departure, but creative differences over the script is reportedly one of the reasons for him leaving. If a director is found in time to keep with the shooting schedule, the film should hit theaters sometime next summer.