Hugh Jackman pulls out of much-anticipated Western movie Unbound Captives

HUGH Jackman has quit the Western movie epic Unbound Captives due to a scheduling conflict.

REVENGE star Madeleine Stowe has confirmed that Hugh Jackman has had to drop out of her upcoming movie western Unbound Captives.

Jackman was set to play the lead role in the long-delayed project, which Stowe will direct. Stowe and husband Brian Benben wrote the script.

Rachel Weisz, who starred opposite Jackman in The Fountain, and Twilight's Robert Pattinson, have also been linked to the project.

Unbound Captives centres on a frontiersman who comes to the rescue of a woman who is captured by the Comanche in the 1850s.

The film has been delayed for more than three years due to financing issues. Stowe says those money problems have been solved in recent weeks.

Unfortunately, Stowe can only direct Unbound Captives in the few months when Revenge isn't filming.

Stowe says those time issues have forced Jackman to bow out of the epic western.

"The film is now fully funded but Hugh's schedule and my schedule did not align," Stowe says.

"During the time that I have my hiatus (from Revenge) - it doesn't work for him there.

"Unfortunately Hugh and I had to push this away and I so I'm having to find another actor.

"I so wanted to work with Hugh because he's a beautiful guy."

Last August, Jackman spoke enthusiastically about Unbound Captives, saying that his son Oscar couldn't wait for filming to start.

"He knows all about this project and keeps asking me when 'when are we going to go and live with the American Indians'," Jackman said.

Stowe has stuck to her guns to direct Unbound Captives. Fox reportedly offered the star $3 million for the script some years back.

The studio saw it as a potential vehicle for Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott who had teamed on Gladiator.

Stowe is currently immersed in series three of Revenge - she plays Victoria Grayson - but is hoping Unbound Captives can start filming in the near future.

"That's where we're at - we're funded but we have to get the right leading man," Stowe says.

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