Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects gets Catherine Zeta-Jones but loses financing and possibly Blake Lively

We reported back in November that Steven “I’m Tired of Making Movies and Want to Stop But First Let Me Make 90 of Them” Soderbergh would be tackling a “psychopharmacology thriller” called SIDE EFFECTS (formerly THE BITTER PILL) in lieu of the currently stagnant MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. In the time since, a cast has been forming that includes the likes of Blake Lively, Channing Tatum (HAYWIRE), and Jude Law (CONTAGION). Today Deadline is reporting that Soderbergh alum Catherine Zeta-Jones (OCEAN’S TWELVE, TRAFFIC) will now also be joining the pack playing the part of a doctor.

But what’s this? Will there be a pack? Variety later reported on the same story but stated that the involvements of Lively, Tatum, and Law are now unclear in light of new news that Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures has backed out as the film’s principle financier.

To stoke the flames even further, The Playlist and their sources claim that Annapurna backed out specifically because of the casting of Lively, who’s set to play “a troubled young woman who develops a dangerous love triangle between her doctor (Jude Law) and her newly paroled husband (Channing Tatum).” If true, does that mean we’ll only be losing Lively and not Tatum and Law? Other actresses supposedly already in the mix to replace her are Rooney Mara, Michelle Williams, Emily Blunt, and Imogen Poots.

Whatever the case may be, SIDE EFFECTS is still expected to begin shooting this April in New York City.