Kenny Ortega Speaks About Leaving Footloose

We still think it probably came down to budget disputes, but director Kenny Ortega says that after overseeing the Michael Jackson documentary film, This Is It, he just needed to take a break, causing him to pull out of the Footloose remake.

"It was not planned," Ortega said, explaining that he "wanted to take a few deep breaths and relax before I resurface…None of this [Michael Jackson and This Is It] was happening when I started working on Footloose with Paramount. I honestly love the team I was working with on it…It had been a wonderful couple of years developing the idea but I really need to take a break. I wish them all the luck in the world."

Paramount is still shooting for March to begin filming since its star Chace Crawford will be on a break from Gossip Girl. Julianne Hough of Dancing with the Stars fame is set to star opposite Chace and she sounded disappointed at Ortega's departure:

He is one of the people who really believed in me in the beginning and championed my being hired. I was surprised when he left the project but I know he is 100 percent committed to everything he does and he was very close to Michael and he wanted to give his all to this film and I think it just took a lot out of him.

He suffered a big personal loss and because they went right into making This Is It he probably hasn't even had time to process that loss. He probably needed a break and didn't want to do Footloose unless he could give it his undivided attention."

Despite Ortega's exit, Julianne is still confident that the movie will be good. "The rumor is that it is going to be edgier than the original but to be honest we don't start shooting until March of next year so I haven't seen many specifics."

If by edgier they mean Chace will have his shirt off a lot, we're ALL for it!

[Image via WENN.]