Why Reese Bailed on "Bunny" Film

Reese WitherspoonReese Witherspoon has backed out of a big movie in which she was slated to star and produce. Now TMZ knows why Reese bailed.

The movie, "Bunny Lake Is Missing," was to be a remake of Otto Preminger's 1965 film about a woman whose daughter disappears from a nursery school. Cops then try to convince the woman that her daughter was a figment of her imagination.

Reports are circulating that Witherspoon did not feel emotionally invested in the film, and that her psyche was fragile in the wake of her divorce from Ryan Phillippe.

But a well-placed, high-powered Hollywood source tells TMZ the problem had nothing to do with emotions. We're told Reese signed onto the project after being presented with the idea and a draft script. Last week, Reese was presented with what she thought would be a completed script, but turned out to be 80 pages that had major sections of the movie outlined but not written.

As the deadline approached for a summer shooting, Witherspoon exercised her option not to approve the incomplete script and withdrew as the star of the project. Reese worried about people who wouldn't have a job shooting this summer. "She's just as disappointed as anybody," the source says. "She's not working too."

Reader Comments

(Page 2 of 2) Previous 15 Comments

16. Oh, TMZ should ask itself "WHY DOESN'T TMZ EVER REPORT THE DIRT ON PARIS?"

Posted at 11:33PM on Mar 8th 2007 by Billy Ray Bobby Joe

17. I just pray for Reese going through such rough times. Let her at peace for awhile. I would love to see her in a new movie but, she really needs to withdraw from it for a while and take a look inside her inner soul in peace.

Posted at 6:39AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Tammy

18. "14. Reese,
Put your family back together for the sake of the kids. They need both you and Ryan....

Posted at 10:38PM on Mar 8th 2007 by your kids"

Oh, give me a break! Kids don't need to be around a skank who cheats all over the place like Ryan. Bad role model. The kids are better off without him.



Posted at 7:24AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Chris Andra

19. IS it me, or could Reese pass as Anna Nicole Smith in this picture? Didn't I read somewhere that she was going to play her in some movie about her tragic life?

Posted at 9:29AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Carlos

20. Send the script to me... I'll have the re-write done in a week! With all us writers trying to make a deal in this business, it's insulting to hear when an assignment gets screwed up.

Posted at 10:04AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Brian Smith

21. "She is not working too"

The source seems to forget that Missy has a large fund to draw from whereas the regular worker bees now have to scramble for another job in order to pay the bills.

Posted at 9:28PM on Mar 9th 2007 by bbqbabe

22. oh right...like Reese gives a crap if crews work or not...give me a break! Publicists should rot!

Posted at 12:49PM on Mar 9th 2007 by patty cake

23. Reese made a smart move. I wouldn't star in, nor produce any movie w/o a script. And if the crew is mad they didn't get a pay check, they can take it up with the writers who screwed up....it wouldn't be the first time.

Posted at 9:56AM on Mar 12th 2007 by SinCity

24. If a movie on the life of Anna Nicole Smith is made, I think Reese Witherspoon would be a very good look a like with make up and hair styled like Anna Nicole.

I have seen pictures of Anna Nicole Smith that look so much like Reese.

Posted at 10:49PM on Mar 12th 2007 by Ann DeLeon

25. i think reese is great in what ever she does i am with her all the way i wish her the very best
the nerve of that guy talking to the world about their sex life he has got a problem
she has my vote ''you go girl''

Posted at 10:36PM on Mar 18th 2007 by james westbrook

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