The Drummer, a movie about The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, suffered its first major setback when Aaron Eckhart—who was set to play the late musician, and had spent six months learning to sing and play piano and drums for it—bowed out of the project last year, right before shooting was scheduled to begin. Eckhart blamed exhaustion from shooting I, Frankenstein, and production was indefinitely delayed. And now Wilson’s estate has pulled its support of the project, leaving producers to say there’s a good chance the movie won’t ever be made.
Wilson’s children had originally signed on to co-produce the movie in 2011, a move that allowed director Randall Miller to option songs from Wilson’s solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue. But his kids were never sold on the project’s script, something that contributed to the production’s delay. The current version basically avoids all of Wilson’s problems with alcohol and drug addiction, as well as his relationship with Charles Manson, prior to his drowning in 1983, after an afternoon of drinking. But even with those revisions, the family trust says it’s no longer interested in proceeding with The Drummer.