14 DAY TRIAL // Production on the Lifetime biopic “Liz & Dick,” Lindsay Lohan's comeback vehicle, hasn't even started but she's already proving to be a handful for producers by being quite the diva. She now wants to have the final say in the casting of Dick, it has emerged.
Just this week, Lindsay was in Australia for costume fittings, with the project being in the final stages of pre-production.
However, there's a big problem with it, Radar Online reports: there is no Dick to Lindsay's Liz yet. So far, no actor to play Richard Burton has been signed – and it's partly because of LiLo, says Radar.
According to on-set insiders, she is making casting Burton very hard by insisting on someone with a solid acting reputation. She doesn't know who that might be, but she's pushing for an A-lister, the report says.
As it happens, producers can't afford an A-lister because of Lohan's salary and, even if they did, they no longer have time to get into contract negotiations with the A-lister.
Lohan has already refused to work with Matthew Settle, Sean Maguire or Craig Robert Young, all of whom have been considered for the part.
“Lindsay declared that none of the actors were the right fit and that she wanted to go to London to look for a possible Burton actor there,” says the source.
“Lindsay is being an absolute nightmare about who should play Burton. She believes Matthew Settle is too old to play the role, and she wants a major A-list star to be her co-star,” the insider further explains.
“However, her salary for the role took up a major portion of the budget, and the Burton gig will likely only pay $200k [€158,002.8], max. The producers don’t need to get Lindsay’s approval of who will play Richard Burton, but they want to keep her happy,” adds the source.
Apparently, Lindsay is convinced she will find her perfect co-star in the UK but producers are bent on not allowing this to happen, for the two reasons stated above.
If push comes to shove, they will cast their choice for Dick and just let Lindsay deal with it, says the insider.
Almost a month ago, word got out in the press that Lindsay wanted Gerard Butler for the role, which means that, if all of the above is accurate, at least we know she's aiming high.