Lopez's 'Carmen' appears dead

CAPRI, Italy, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Jennifer Lopez's plan to star in a "tough, hard" big screen version of the opera "Carmen" has apparently been quashed by Hollywood.

Director Taylor Hackford is quoted in the New York Daily News saying the project "is on its last legs."

In Capri, Italy, for the Hollywood International Film Festival, Hackford said investors balked at the $50 million price tag on the project and he speculated Lopez's image had something to do with that.

"(Carmen) is not a sweet, nice girl. This is a piece about a criminal," Hackford said.

"We want to do a tough, hard version, but Hollywood thinks the audience (for Jennifer Lopez) is 13-year-old girls."

"Carmen" has a tragic ending that Hackford said Hollywood "does not like to make."

The film would have been different from the famous Georges Bizet opera of the same name, the Daily News said.