The 'Jumanji: The Next Level' star initially signed up to play weapons expert Wes Loomis, a.k.a. The Blacksmith, in the big screen adaptation project from 'Taken' director Pierre Morel.
- March 2, 2021
AceShowbiz - Singer/actor Nick Jonas has bowed out of upcoming action thriller "The Blacksmith".
The "Jumanji: The Next Level" star initially signed up to play weapons expert Wes Loomis, aka The Blacksmith, in the big screen adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name last spring (2020), in the hopes of filming in Toronto, Canada later that year.
However, his busy schedule forced producers at AGC Studios to delay the shoot, and now Jonas has had to step down from the leading role in "Taken" director Pierre Morel's new project.
"Nick, as you can imagine, has a lot of other commitments, with his acting and his music," AGC CEO Stuart Ford explains to The Hollywood Reporter.
"Under normal circumstances, he could fly in and out, go to do things over the weekend, and come back to set Monday. But in a COVID environment, that doesn't work. He'd have to stay in the same place for three months. With a star like Nick Jonas, it became borderline impossible to make the schedule work."
Ford insists AGC executives and Jonas have "parted ways, amicably", and they are now looking for a replacement to co-star with Laurence Fishburne as Loomis' mentor.
" 'The Blacksmith' provides a fresh, highly contemporary new take on the espionage genre and it's exciting to pair an exhilarating young talent like Nick with seasoned heavyweights such as Pierre and Laurence," Stuart Ford of financiers and producers AGC Studios explained. "We'll soon be announcing an equally outstanding young female actor to play across from Nick and then we will have all the ingredients for a major new film franchise built around a very modern breed of action hero."
