Legendary Pictures has officially pulled the plug on Alex Proyas’ big-budget adaptation of John Milton’s 17th-century poem “Paradise Lost” due to budget issues.
Bradley Cooper, Ben Walker, Casey Affleck, Djimon Hounsou, Rufus Sewell, Camilla Belle, Diego Boneta and Callan McAuliffe were slated to star in the film, which Legendary initially pushed from January to June.

Insiders close to the production told Variety that while Proyas’ vision of the movie was great, the technology wasn’t quite there, and the filmmakers couldn’t reduce the budget enough to satisfy Legendary.

Vincent Newman was set to produce “Paradise Lost” with Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni. Project was designed to showcase eye-popping aerial warfare, and Warner Bros. was onboard to distribute.

Decision frees up the schedules of its stars, who are expected to be in high-demand — particularly Cooper and Walker.

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How sad were we when news broke that production of the much talked-about Paradise Lost movie was being postponed because of money problems?

Not only were we excited at the casting of Bradley Cooper as Lucifer, but…

One of our new faves, Diego Boneta, had been cast as Adam to Camilla Belle’s Eve.

“Who knew the first man on earth was Mexican?” Boneta cracked when we recently caught up with him in L.A. “When I booked the part, I was very happy, but my dad had a big smile on his face. He kept smiling.

“I said, ‘Dad, why are you so happy? What’s up?’ He goes, “Well, if you’re Adam, then what does that make me?’”

Good point, Papa Boneta!

Hopefully the movie’s delay doesn’t mean Boneta, 21, has stopped getting in shape for his role. “It’s 10 weeks of training,” he said. “I have to gain 15 pounds of muscle. It’s crazy dieting and training every day for at least an hour and a half. I have to be ripped.”

Unlike his upcoming breakout role opposite Julianne Hough in the Rock of Ages, Mr. Boneta will not be showing off his musical chops in Paradise.

“There’s no singing,” he said. “Just a lot of running around naked.”

Director Alex Proyas was scheduled to start shooting next month but Legendary Pictures put the brakes on it because of budgetary concerns. They’re apparently trying to rework things with hopes of kicking off production in Australia in the late spring or early summer, according to Deadline.

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It has now been made official, Diego will be portraying Adam in “Paradise Lost.”

Having gotten his start as a singer and then cutting his acting teeth on Mexican TV, Diego Boneta is now in the midst of a healthy Hollywood career surge. Hot on the heels on him scoring the lead in movie musical adaptation Rock of Ages comes the news that Alex Proyas has picked him to play Adam in Paradise Lost.

From the looks of it, Proyas is now going full speed ahead with the Paradise casting, as just yesterday he hired Dominic Purcell to play Moloch.

The film will, of course, adapt John Milton’s epic poem, with the action-orientated take focusing on the battle between fallen angel Lucifer (Bradley Cooper) and archangel Michael (Benjamin Walker, soon to be seen in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter).

Part of the spark for the war in Heaven revolves around God’s creation of Adam and Eve (Camilla Belle), the biblical first humans who found themselves tempted by knowledge and ultimately banished from the Garden of Eden.

With Casey Affleck, Callan McAuliffe and Djimon Hounsou also making up the numbers in the ensemble, Proyas will get the cameras cranking in January.

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