AceShowbiz - Pierce Brosnan's upcoming "The Thomas Crown Affair" sequel has been thrown into jeopardy after director Paul Verhoeven quit in a dispute over the script. The former James Bond star is planning to reprise his role as a high class art thief in a sequel to the 1999 thriller, which was a remake of a 1968 film, starring Steve McQueen.

The Irish actor confirmed the project in February, insisting movie bosses had "a script and a structure that is good". But the production now appears to be in trouble after "Total Recall" filmmaker Verhoeven walked out - blaming his departure on a "regime change" and a decision to use a different script.

He tells Moviehole.net, "I am not (involved) anymore. Things happened there, the regime changed. The initial ideas that they had about Thomas Crown 2 were interesting I thought. There was a script written by two young writers that used the fact that now we're living 15, 20 years later. Ultimately, (the studio) decided not to (use) that script anymore. Then there was a regime change. And basically I felt that I could not (continue)."