Frank Darabont’s dream project - his adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451 is once again without a leading man after it’s star Tom Hanks pulled out of the film because of scheduling conflicts. It’s likely his HUGE paycheck role in Angels & Demons has forced him out of what was surely to be a more challenging and worthwhile cinematic project and one that would re-team the A-list star with his director of The Green Mile.

Though it could also have been his long rumored role in Barry Levinson’s Western drama Boone’s Lick and even his voice work on Toy Story 3 which had a hand in this development too.

Darabont revealed the news to MTV…

“Mr. Hanks sadly and regretfully had to back out,” he said. “I was really looking forward to working with him again but his other commitments just precluded it. He had to take a step back.”

“I see this movie so clearly in my head. It’s flowing in my veins,” he said. And just because you think of books first when you think “Fahrenheit 451,” don’t expect something akin to Jane Austen, Darabont promised. He explained, “One character in the script says, ‘It’s not really even about books. It’s about control.’ It’s about the control of government and authority. It’s one of the greatest books ever written. It’s got all that great political stuff underneath the skin of it but really what it is is a great galloping tale.”

“It needs to be somebody like [Hanks] who has the ability to trigger a greenlight but is also the right guy for the part. It’s a narrow target. It’s a short list of people,” Darabont sighed.

Trigger a greenlight?

Man I hate words like that. I was really hoping this would be Darabont’s next picture but I guess it all now depends on whether he can find himself an actor to the studio’s liking.