Brad Pitt has dropped out of playing in Universal’s political thriller “State of Play,” after two weeks in which he and director Kevin Macdonald had met for several times to discuss over the script.

Universal has already announced Pitt’s leaving the film which was supposed to start the production by November 15 in Los Angeles. Now the production was postponed until November 29.

“Brad Pitt has left the Universal Pictures production of `State of Play.’ We remain committed to this project and to the filmmakers, cast members, crew and others who are also involved in making the movie. We reserve all rights in this matter,” says a release issued by Universal to Variety.com. They said that the actor has violated a pay or play commitment which leaves them the possibility to sue him if the film cannot be recast in time to not lose the other actors involved in the project.

The movie telling the story of a police detective who works with a journalist in solving the mystery around the death of a politician’s mistress, has also Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Robin Wright Penn among its stars.

Sources say that Universal is looking for someone to replace Pitt as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the studio risks losing other actors who might be forced to drop the film due to projects they scheduled after “Play.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal is looking at Johnny Depp to replace Pitt. Depp’s own movie “Shantaram” just got postponed at Warner Bros. Russell Crowe is another possible replacement for Pitt , as well as Tom Hanks whose movie “Angeles & Demons” was postponed because of the writer's strike.

Pitt dropped out over script concerns, which cannot be addressed due to the ongoing Writers Guild strike, THR reports. Matthew Michael Carnahan penned the script.