David Fincher’s ‘Utopia’ With Rooney Mara Is Dead At HBO, ‘Videosynchrazy’ Might Be DOA Too

Not even 24 hours after we heard no miracle was reached for David Fincher’s thriller series “Utopia” at HBO and we tried to dig around a little more, Deadline has the scoop: “Utopia” is dead. Written by Fincher’s “Gone Girl” collaborator Gillian Flynn, “Utopia” ran into trouble a few weeks ago when Fincher and HBO clashed over budgets on the show. Fincher wanted north of $100 million for the first season and in comparison, Netflix’s budget for the first three seasons of “House Of Cards” was also $100 million. But Fincher doesn’t do anything on the cheap and won’t get out of bed for a pretty pay day either (see “Steve Jobs” which Sony balked at at the time because of his $10 million asking price).

Things were already looking grim and the writing was on the wall for “Utopia” last week as the cast were released from their contract including lead star Rooney Mara who had lead Fincher’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” But budget conversations have crumbled and both parties have...