Originally, Kane & Lynch was to be helmed by Italian Job director F.Gary Gray. Then Gray left, and Simon Crane came onboard. He was then replaced by Patrick Alessandrin (District 13: Ultimatum), with a seemingly-firm October start date. Now, Alessandrin has also left.

IGN reports:

The Los Angeles Times reports that French filmmaker Patrick Alessandrin (District 13: Ultimatum) is no longer attached to direct the picture, with a spokesperson for Nu Image/Millennium telling the paper “‘the director has not been chosen’ and that a ‘start date is TBD.'”

The Times says it’s likely Kane & Lynch won’t start production now until first quarter 2011 at the earliest. Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx apparently remain attached to play the title roles.

The paper says previous directing contenders F. Gary Gray (who made Law Abiding Citizen with Foxx), Antoine Fuqua (Willis’ Tears of the Sun) and Wayne Kramer (Running Scared) are all “back in the mix” as possible replacements for Alessandrin.

Damn. This ain’t looking good. Although it sometimes happens in Hollywood, this almost never translates into delivering a great movie in the end. So, this ain’t looking good. Are the directors having problems with the studio’s ideas or are they having problems with Willis or Foxx? Something ain’t right. Is it the script? We’ll have to wait a see.

Kane & Lynch is the story of two death-row inmates who end up in a partnership together after they are kidnapped by The Seven. The Seven is a highly organized terrorist group that recruit Kane and Lynch for a variety of missions around the globe.

What do you think might be going wrong? Studio? Script? Actors?