Imagine you’re a film producer and you’ve spent the last weeks and months lining everything up for your next movie. You’ve booked location shoots with with the city and local businesses, hired local talent to serve on set, and arranged for flights and accommodations for all your cast and crew. And then, days before you’re set to start filming, you get a frantic call saying that Will Ferrell, one of the biggest names in Hollywood, is dropping out unexpectedly at the last minute. On days like this, do you regret ever going into film production as a career?

While casting changes don’t normally make this degree of headlines, the size of the star and the proximity to the shoot has people interested. According to Deadline, Will Ferrell has dropped out of family comedy Captain Dad just days before the movie was set to shoot. No reason for Ferrell’s decision is available as of yet, but the film’s producers are reportedly scrambling to replace the actor so as not to halt or delay the production.

Deadline describes Captain Dad as a comedy about Rich Peelman, a man who plans a surprise birthday party for his wife by inviting all six of their kids and their partners to join them for a cruise around the Caribbean on a private yacht. As the vacation gets underway, however, it becomes painfully obvious that Peelman’s skills at sailing were somewhat oversold, and soon the entire trip turns into a nightmare. Actors Catherine Keener and Michael Cera were originally set to co-star with Ferrell.

Whether you think Ferrell owes it to the studio to make the picture or not, it’s hard to imagine a star of Ferrell’s stature being able to simply walk away from a project that he helped bring to life. The aforementioned Deadline report from last May hinted that Captain Dad had been sold at the Cannes film festival on the strength of Ferrell’s involvement. One thing is for certain: Ferrell’s attorneys are going to be wracking up an awful lot of hours this weekend.

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