EXCLUSIVE: Rachel McAdams Fires UTA

EXCLUSIVE: Rachel McAdams Fires UTA

EXCLUSIVE… UPDATE: Rachel McAdams and her Magnolia Entertainment manager Shelley Browning today fired UTA after a seven-year stint together. Browning met with Tracey Jacobs and other members of Rachel McAdams’ agency team this afternoon. Howard Fishman remains her attorney. I hear CAA’s Dave Buligari is chasing ”very intensely”. McAdams (who just dyed her hair red) is going to co-star in Cameron Crowe’s next movie alongside Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone for Sony Pictures. This exit is particularly puzzling because Browning and Jacobs have several clients together including Daniel Espinosa and Joel Kinnaman. “UTA is at a complete loss. They can’t figure this out,” an insider tells me. Look, I’ve always thought Browning is a pain in the ass. And so is Scott Rudin who’s producing the untitled picture which starts shooting in September/October. The result of putting them together is drama, drama, drama. (“And a lot of pain for everyone,” one wag told me.)

I was tipped Thursday that “Rudin sent UTA a warning email saying Shelley was telling Sony and Crowe that Tracey was trying to kill the Rachel deal – and that Shelley is very clearly getting ready to fire Tracey/UTA”. Other sources say Scott and Shelley “got this impression that Tracey wasn’t being supportive of Rachel doing this movie. And that’s not true. Tracey’s been a fan of Cameron’s for 30 years. He’s one of her dearest friends.” (I hear at a recent birthday party, Jacobs and Crowe not only were sitting next to each other but that Tracey gave the toast to Cameron.) Jacobs wasn’t even doing McAdams’ negotiating for this movie because Browning jumped in first without consulting UTA. ”All Tracey will say is that it’s a beautiful script and Cameron is brilliant and the whole thing is sad,” a source explains to me. “And that Rachel is actually a very good girl and that she wishes her well.”

Related stories

Top Agency Count: Primetime Emmys 2012

Jennifer Lopez Drops UTA For CAA: Is This The Start Of Another Career Shake-Up?

How Agencies Did At This Year’s Upfronts: New Scripted Series Package Scorecard

Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter