It's no wonder the film is called A Little Game, because it's taken some strategic playing in order to get all the pieces to fit correctly. Only a few months after Focus Features lost control of the then Gabriele Muccino-directed flick -- causing Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz to abruptly vacate their roles and abandon the project -- Focus co-chair James Schamus has convinced Ang Lee to take over for Muccino and helm the film. According to Variety, Lee will begin production on A Little Game (based on the French play A Little Game of Consequence) as soon as he's finished with Lust, Caution, his directorial follow-up to Brokeback Mountain.

A Little Game originally fell apart after Carrey and Diaz voiced concern over the pic's third act, and when a rewrite wasn't up to par, the two split -- officially squashing all hope of the duo's much talked-about reunion after first pairing up on The Mask. Following the fall out, Schamus was desperate to get this thing made, going so far as to take on the rewrite himself and, now, pulling Lee onboard for his third straight pic with Focus, and 11th collaboration with Schamus.

Plot concerns an engaged Brooklyn couple who, because of a rumor, decide to pretend they've broken up in order to see what their friends and family really think of their relationship. No word yet on whether Carrey and Diaz will return (it's highly doubtful), but I couldn't see them together in the first place. Then again, I have a hard time picturing Diaz in any role that's worth my hard-earned dollars.

Focus Features ran into a fairly large obstacle on Tuesday when stars Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and director Gabriele Muccino all vacated their posts from A Little Game, due to begin filming Oct. 19. Ouch. Both stars had problems with the third act of the film, based on a French play, and a promised rewrite failed to make everyone happy, which has turned A Little Game into A Big Mess.

Studio head James Schamus is tackling the rewrite himself, having written The Ice Storm and other films, in the hopes the movie can still be salvaged, at least with Jim Carrey onboard.

Carrey is finding himself in turbulent waters without anything to guide him to shore lately, having had Used Guys and Ripley's Believe It or Not! fall apart before shooting. He also fired his agents recently, which in Hollywood effectively states "do over!" We'd fire our agents too after both saddling us with the Tea Leoni curse and failing to capitalize on our excellent turn in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Carrey's problem, it seems, is that he wants to be taken as a serious actor after appearing in both Eternal and The Majestic. However, this guy is goofy to the core, and that's a good thing. But he's already crossed the line of taking himself, and his press, too seriously. Hopefully he can find a happy medium without doing films like Ace Ventura III, which is happening without him anyhow.

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