Lohan’s troubles jeopardize two movies

By Stone Martindale Jul 25, 2007, 15:43 GMT

Lindsay Lohan is pictured in this police booking photograph released July 24, 2007. REUTERS/Santa Monica Police Dept./Courtesy TMZ.com/Handout

Hollywood is big business, and when one of the key components of a film, the actor, becomes uninsurable, it is the death knell for their career.

Actress Lindsay Lohan’s arrest on felony drug charges for cocaine possession and multiple DUI's has happened at the most inopportune time for TriStar Pictures, releasing “I Know Who Killed Me,” this Friday.

The New York Times reports that promotional plans for Lohan included “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night, but her appearance was "abruptly canceled" and she was replaced with Rob Schneider.

The Times speculates that the "casualty" of Lohan's repeat offenses, other than the erosion of her acting career, "may be an independently financed project in which she was to have played only a supporting role."

“Poor Things,” the long simmering dark comedy that was suppose to have been wrapped and ready by now, it was put on hold after Lohan's Mercedes-May incident.

Actors Shirley MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis were set to portray scheming women who take out insurance policies on homeless people, then kill them.

Lohan had a small part as a niece to one of the women, but that has changed.

Now the Times reports that because of the delays and the legal problems of Lohan, the financing is allegedly sketchy, two unnamed people involved with the film said to the New York Times.

The Times cited the industry's top talent manager, Bernie Brillstein, who had a dire warning for the actress who flouts the law and does whatever she pleases at the expense of her budding career:

“I hope they put her in jail for as long as they can,” said Brillstein, whose company has represented John Belushi and Chris Farley, to the Times. “Maybe she’ll realize how serious it is. I believe she’s uninsurable. And when you’re uninsurable in this town, you’re done.”

“Poor Things,” if it goes forward, will be directed by Ash Baron Cohen, and had an initial start date back in late May.

Near the time of the movie's start date, Lohan crashed her Mercedes in Beverly Hills early in the morning, and was subsequently charged with driving under the influence.

Paparazzi agencies had snapped photos well after the fact outside Hollywood clubs of a passed out Lohan, her mouth agape, inside a car.  It was then that she entered yet another rehabilitation facility, this time Malibu's Promises, in hopes of turning her ship around.

Parties involved in the "Poor Things" project rallied to Lohan's side and promised her they would delay the movie and wait for her to clean up and get well.

The events leading up to Lohan's latest arrest were ominous for the ever more diligent film insurers, who are loathe to cover any actor that has a whiff of dependency issues.

Rob Hickman, "Poor Things" producer, said in a statement to the Times: “We continue to be enthusiastic in our belief in ‘Poor Things,’ and our sole focus is moving this film into production. We expect to announce details on a start date in the very near future.”

Which leaves the latest film on deck for Lohan, "I Know Who Killed Me," the TriStar Pictures latest offering.

The Times claims that Lohan is being downplayed in the marketing "as much as possible."

No screenings were arranged for any critics, not uncommon for some genres, yet executives at TriStar declined to comment to the New York Times.

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