“Not true,” a spokesperson for the filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly. “Ridley loves Paul and was excited to work with him on Dog Stars after having [enjoyed] such a great collaboration on Gladiator II.

“Sadly, Paul’s rehearsal schedule for another film prevented him from ultimately doing Ridley’s film.”

Originally, Paul was supposed to play the lead in the post-apocalyptic thriller The Dog Stars, but was eventually replaced by Jacob Elordi due to what was reported at the time to be “scheduling issues” involving Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles movies, in which the Irish star will appear as a young Sir Paul McCartney.

The rep added that “while he was disappointed to lose Paul”, Sir Ridley was “thrilled to get the chance to work with” Jacob, describing his performance as “excellent”.