Tobey Maguire and Ang Lee share a good working rapport. Maguire has previously worked in Lee's "The Ice Storm" and "Ride with the Devil."
Maguire, who was supposed to star in Lee's "Life of Pi," but will not be a part of the project said THR.
Did the friendship go south?
Turns out Maguire was too famous from his "Spider Man" franchises to star as the lead role. Lee selected lesser-known actor Rafe Spall ("Prometheus") to play the lead character.
Maguire was to play the writer who interviews the protagonist.
"I fully support Ang's decision to go a different direction for this role in 'Life of Pi.' Ang shared a lot of the film with me, and what I saw was absolutely beautiful," Maguire told reporters.
"To be consistent with the other casting choices made for the film, I decided to go with an entirely international cast," Lee told reporters. "I very much admire Tobey and look forward to working with him again in the future."
Other cast members of the film include Suraj Sharma, Adil Hussain, Tabu, and Irrfan Khan. The movie, which is based on a best-selling novel "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, which won the Man Booker Prize.
Maguire will be starring in Jason Reitman's "Labor Day" and also in Buz Luhrmann's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel, "The Great Gatsby," which has moved its release date to summer of 2013.
"Life of Pi" will hit theatres on Nov. 21.
See trailer:
