'High School Musical' Director Gives Up on 'Footlose'

Kenny Ortega has announced this weekend that he has backed out of the Footloose project, starring Chase Crawford, the pretty boy face of the CW's Gossip Girl series. Apparently Paramount Studios and the man who choreographed the Broadway stage musical of "Dirty Dancing" had some disagreements regarding "tone and budget," reports Hollywood Crush.

Ortega was expecting to be able to pull off 30 million dollars worth of full, choreographed musical numbers of grandeur and splendor. Paramount wanted the film to have a more mature and realistic quality with less cheese.

Parade.com stated that Paramount will begin the hunt for a new director of the remake of the 1980s hit.

Kenny Ortega has just directed the highly publicized This is It documentary of Michael Jackson's last tour, which hits theaters Friday, October 30. He was also the mastermind director and choreographer behind Disney's High School Musical franchise.