May 5, 2016 - 11:05 AMT
Helmer Ava DuVernay exits Lupita Nyong’o’s “Intelligent Life”

Ava DuVernay has exited DreamWorks’ “Intelligent Life” after joining the project as director in February, TheWrap has learned.

Scheduling issues led to the decision, the insider said. Lupita Nyong’o will remain attached to star in the project, which Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Entertainment is producing.

Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly wrote the script for “Intelligent Life,” which follows a UN employee who monitors outer space and eventually makes contact with a beautiful woman, who quite possibly is an alien.

DuVernay will next be in the director’s chair for an adaptation of the Madeleine L’Engle book “A Wrinkle in Time” for Disney.

The “Selma” filmmaker will work with “Frozen” writer Jennifer Lee, who will help develop the script revolving around a young girl whose government-scientist father disappears while working on a mysterious project.