Two relatively high-profile project have just lost their directors: Deadline reports that Wayne Kramer has exited the Sylvester Stallone drama Headshot while First Showing brings us the news that Steve Carell‘s stage magician comedy Burt Wonderstone‘s director Charles McDougall has vanished from the scene.

Kramer, who previously wrote and directed The Cooler and Running Scared, reportedly left the project over creative disagreements with Stallone. The true degree of volatility between the two is unknown, though people close to the production have denied claims that things got heated toward the end. Headshot, scripted by Allesandro Camon, is based on a graphic novel by Alexis Nolent and follows a cop and a hit man who join forces against a common enemy. Kramer is evidently jumping onto a project he wrote, and given Stallone’s helming work on The Expendables, it’s probable that he’ll end up directing this one.

The same might be true for Steve Carell’s long-in-development Burt Wonderstone, which pit fading illusionist Carell against a younger, hipper rival. Carell has directed episodes of The Office, but given that he’s still somewhat in demand, he’s likely to remain the star the comedy, which lost director McDougall (after previously losing Walk Hard‘s Jake Kasdan). No word on the why McDougall (Chicago Code, The Office) left the project, but given that Carell has so many projects in his pipeline, this one (which sounds the most promising – do you really want to see him in a romantic comedy with Keira Knightley? Dan In Real Life was bad enough) could remain in development hell for some time.

Steve Carell’s next film will be Crazy, Stupid, Love with Ryan Gosling, which opens July 29th, 2011. Stallone will be in The Expendables 2, coming August 2012.

Are you interested in either of these projects?