The HBO film “Days of Abandonment,” starring Oscar winner Natalie Portman, is dead.
On Monday, the network announced that Portman has stepped down from the film, and production will not be moving forward.
“Due to unforeseen personal reasons, Natalie Portman has stepped down from HBO Films’ ‘Days of Abandonment’ prior to the start of filming. Unfortunately, the production will not move forward,” HBO said in a statement. “We are very sorry we won’t be able to bring this beautiful story to the screen with our talented writer/director and cast. We send our sincere thanks to our cast, producers, and crew for all their passion and hard work.”
Portman was first attached to star in the project — an adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novel of the same name — in April. The story follows Tess (Portman), who has abandoned her own dreams for a stable home life. When she is in turn abandoned by her husband, her world is thrown off its axis. Portman was also set to executive produce along with Sophie Mas under the pair’s MountainA production banner. Representatives for Portman did not have any additional comment.
Maggie Betts was set to write, direct and executive produce the adaptation. Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler of Maven Screen Media were also on board as executive producers, along with Len Amato of Crash&Salvage, Ferrante, Domenico Procacci of Fandango and Maria Zuckerman. “The Days of Abandonment” was going to be produced in association with Medusa.
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THR was the first to report the news.