Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels has exited the long-gestating movie about legendary comic Richard Pryor due to his busy schedule.
The Weinstein Co, which is behind the film, is said to have declined to wait further for Daniels' schedule to clear up.
He is an executive producer on Fox's smash television drama "Empire", and he has another project at the network, Star, that is requiring a significant time commitment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Weinstein Co, which declined to comment, currently is searching for another helmer and made initial overtures to several filmmakers this weekend.
"Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?", from a script by Bill Condon, chronicles the life of the groundbreaking comedian, who rose to prominence in the 1970s before enjoying a film and television career and succumbing to Parkinson's disease.
The project has been in development in various incarnations for more than a decade (Pryor himself had a hand in it before his death in 2005).
The current version has a star-studded cast set, including Mike Epps as Pryor, Oprah Winfrey as his grandmother and Kate Hudson as Pryor's widow Jennifer Lee Pryor.
It's unclear if any castmembers will exit with Daniels or if a new filmmaker will want revisions to the script.
