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High School Musical director Kenny Ortega has stepped down as director of the planned remake of Footloose, citing issues with the tone and budget of the film, reports E! News. This comes after Zac Efron also bailed on the project.

Ortega’s latest endeavour, This is It, a behind-the-scenes concert film about the late Michael Jackson, hits North American theatres Wednesday.

“Coming off of the extraordinary project, Michael Jackson’s This is It, director Kenny Ortega has decided it is premature for him to commit to his next film and will not be moving forward with Footloose as previously reported,” Paramount Pictures said in a statement.

The film will star Chace Crawford and Julianne Hough, and is still planned to begin production in March.

There have been countless rumours regarding who would replace Zac Efron in the upcoming “Footloose” remake but according to PEOPLE, Paramount Pictures has announced that Crawford will be reprising the role of Ren McCormack, previously played by Kevin Bacon.

“High School Musical” star Zac Efron dropped out of the film to pursue different roles, but Paramount released a statement saying the studio was still committed to the remake.

A statement from Paramount at the time said, ” ‘Footloose’ is a project we’ve longed to see re-booted for a new generation. While Zac is no longer attached, we remain excited and committed to the collective brain trust of Kenny Ortega, [producers] Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who will reinvigorate the franchise.”

Crawford is currently in New York filming “Twelve,” co-starring “24’s” Kiefer Sutherland, Emma Roberts, Ellen Barkin and rapper 50 Cent.

The High School Musical star has dropped out of the Footloose remake, TheWrap.com reports. The website reports that he dropped out to pursue other opportunities. “Efron told the studio last week that he did not want to do another musical at this point in his career,” a senior member of the production team told the site. The source added that Efron had script approval and used a loophole to get out of his contract. “People had been working on this project since last July,” the source said.

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