Principal photography took place between January 11, 2008,[43] and April 6, 2008.[32] Filming was originally scheduled to start in November 2007,[3] but was postponed due to Brad Pitt's unexpected departure from the production.[4] Eric Fellner indicated that the film was close to being abandoned, and credited Universal's chairman and co-chairman (Marc Shmuger and David Linde) with seeing the film to production.[5]