So where was Caple Jr? Well, it turns out that he left the project and is now going to direct I Am Legend 2. Now, not only do we have the confirmation of his departure (along with Di Bonaventura's confirmation of their current aimlessness), we also have the reason as to why. It seems Caple Jr and Di Bonaventura got into some heated arguments. He left after a Di Bonaventura went on a power trip of sorts, telling Caple Jr that he should be grateful for being on this project. The article below also claims some racially tinged dialogue was said by Di Bonaventura though that has not been confirmed by either involved, and their representatives have since denied this, instead referring to the exchange as a "heated negotiation that went south."
Below are all the details from the InSneider:
That said, there’s another reason that Caple landed the I Am Legend 2 gig, and that’s because he was available after turning down the chance to direct the Transformers-G.I. Joe movie for Paramount. And why was he available?
I’m told by multiple sources it’s because he got into a heated argument with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and walked away from the project.
I’m not going to get into the specifics of what I heard, but suffice it to say, I’m told that some of DiBonaventura’s comments were interpreted as racially-tinged and that the old-school producer — di Bonaventura is 67 years old — suggested Caple should be more grateful for the opportunity to direct the big-budget crossover movie, which is slated to star Chris Hemsworth.
Both Caple and di Bonaventura are represented by CAA, which denied that any incident occurred, with one agency insider suggesting it was merely a heated negotiation that went south — nothing out of the ordinary in the cutthroat world of Hollywood.
I’m certainly not suggesting that di Bonaventura is racist or anything like that, but I think we’re all guilty of micro-aggressions and things like that from time to time. From what I’ve been told by several different parties, it certainly sounds like that’s what happened here… at the very least.
