Jake Gyllenhaal has been forced to bow out of Disney's Into the Woods in favor of the indie Nightcrawler, which he is also producing.

The actor signed on to star in and produce Nightcrawler back in April, a crime thriller about a young man who gets sucked into the strange world of Los Angeles freelance crime journalism. Then, in May, he joined the cast of Into the Woods, a musical based on the Broadway play about a young couple who head into the woods to confront the witch who cursed them, meeting several fairy tale characters along the way such as Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood.

Jake Gyllenhaal was set to play Rapunzel's prince, but the scheduling could not be worked out after Nightcrawler was given the green light to start production in October for a five-week shoot. Although Jake Gyllenhaal tried to make both projects work at the same time, the complex shooting schedule of director Rob Marshall's Into the Woods meant the actor would have to be on set for several days in October and November.

Dan Gilroy, who co-wrote The Bourne Legacy with his brother Tony Gilroy, makes his directorial debut with Nightcrawler, working from his own original screenplay.