King Kong has two less stars to worry about on Skull Island. That’s because both Michael Keaton and J.K. Simmons have left Legendary’s King Kong prequel Kong: Skull Island.
The news was first reported by Deadline and was also confirmed by Variety.
It appears that scheduling was the main reason for them leaving the film. Both actors are in high demand after giving Oscar-nominated performances last year (actually, an Oscar-winning performance in Simmons’ case) and have other projects lined up.
Keaton is set to star in The Weinstein Company’s The Founder and will also work on Fox’s Imagine Agents. Simmons might be returning to TV in Counterpart for Starz and can be seen in Terminator: Genisys this weekend.
Keaton and Simmons both finally earned recognition from the Academy Awards for the first time. Keaton was nominated for Birdman and Simmons won Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash.
Kong: Skull Island will be directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts from a script by John Gatins and Max Borenstein. Tom Hiddleston is still set to star and it is scheduled for a March 10, 2017 release from Universal.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com