Almost a year after he was signed to head up The Wolf Man remake, director Mark Romanek has dropped out of the picture, with just weeks before its scheduled date to begin filming. The move is a surprising one, reportedly over creative differences according to Variety, although Universal claims the movie is still in strong shape to begin filming soon, after a new director is found, of course.

Strong shape or not, this is a bad sign for Universal, who just spent quite a bit of time and resources piecing back together their picture State of Play, which had to cope with key cast members slowly trickling off of the picture. The Wolf Man has a strong cast announced, including Benicio Del Toro in the title role, supported by Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt, but this time it’s the crew abandoning ship. Hopefully the studio can get the project back together quickly, before there are any adverse effects on the film.

The movie was slated to begin filming February 18th. Right now there has been no word as to whether that date can still be made, but if State of Play was any indication, expect to see a new director stepping on board quickly.