Apparently, the out-of-office message that is currently running the Walt Disney Studios just became self-aware. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Order of the Seven, the third “Snow White†film behind the just released Mirror Mirror and the forthcoming Snow White and the Huntsman, was killed off last night. It had previously attracted the talents of commercials director Michael Gracey, he of the roller-skating and dancing Evian babies, and was set to star Saoirse Ronan alongside seven actual samurai/ronin.
But who killed the project? It’s possible studio president Alan Bergman has been making decisions in the absence of a studio chairman, given that Rich Ross was jettisoned from the job last month. Just to check, we wrote to Ross’s old e-mail address and got a creepy HAL9000-esque auto-reply that read, “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.â€