Heather Graham Departs THE MONEY SHOT to Focus on Film Directing

According to Deadline.com, Californication actress Heather Graham has left Neil LaBute's play The Money Shot so that she can have more time to devote to her upcoming film, Half Magic.

Produced by MCC Theatre, The Money Shot begins previews on September 4 at the Lucille Lortel Theater in Greenwich Village, set to close October 12.

Graham was supposed to play a has-been glamorous Hollywood star who is trying for a comeback. The cast includes Gia Crovatin, Callie Thorne, and Frederick Weller. No word yet on who will replace Graham.

Half Magic is directed by Graham, who also stars in it, opposite Josh Lucas, about a woman who just wants a nice guy who is also a great lover.

Graham has most recently appeared on screen in Californication, Flowers in the Attic, The Hangover and The Hangover Part III, Scrubs, and more.

In The Money Shot, Karen (formerly played by Graham) and Steve (Weller) are glamorous movie stars with one thing in common: desperation. It's been years since either one's had a hit, but the latest movie by a hot shot European director could change that. The night before filming a big scene (that seems destined to assure them a spot back on the pop culture radar), Karen, her partner Bev (Thorne), Steve, and his aspiring actress wife Missy (Crovatin) meet in order to make an important decision: how far will they let themselves go to keep from slipping further down the Hollywood food chain? The Money Shotreunites Neil LaBute with director Terry Kinney (Reasons to be Pretty) for a hilarious and insightful comedy about ambition, art, status and sex in an era - and an industry - where very little is sacred and almost nothing is taboo.