We told you about the Elena Ferrante adaptation DAYS OF ABANDONMENT in production for HBO earlier. Well, now you can forget it. It is not moving forward. It appears the lead, Natalie Portman is the reason behind the shutdown, but no explanation has been cited. HBO states –
“Due to unforeseen personal reasons, Natalie Portman has stepped down from HBO Films’ Days of Abandonment prior to the start of filming. Unfortunately, the production will not move forward. We are very sorry we won’t be able to bring this beautiful story to the screen with our talented writer/director and cast. We send our sincere thanks to our cast, producers, and crew for all their passion and hard work.”
The work was in pre-production but said to be close to getting before the cameras. Portman would serve as a producer and star in the story of Tess. When Tess, who abandoned her own dreams for a stable home life, is in turn abandoned by her husband, her world is thrown off its axis. Since Portman’s production company owns the film rights the whole production was abandoned when she stepped away. It may come to light why the project died, but 
this type of thing happens all the time.
I also found an older report that QUALITYLAND for HBO is also a dead project. That one was part of a creative deal with Mike Judge of SILICON VALLEY. The difference here is that HBO nixed the pitched project. It was to be a look at the world in the near future. There was another concept A5 that was being developed but was dropped as well. Did that sour Judge from honoring the agreement. I mean he pitched two ideas and HBO passed for reasons, of course, not made clear. Oh well, such is the business.
