It’s not often that the life of a Best Picture Oscar winner rages on with a level of public sniping on par with the final days of Academy Awards season. But such is the case with 2008′s Slumdog Millionaire.

On Tuesday, the New York Post reported that Matthew Warcus had dropped out of talks to direct a forthcoming stage musical adaptation of the film as a show of support for Danny Boyle. Today, Erin Carlson of the Hollywood Reporter checks in with composer A. R. Rahman, who reiterates that there will be no stage permission granted for use of signature song “Jai Ho” unless Boyle is indeed at the helm of the musical:

“As a team, we all took the position that we all work together,” Rahman told THR in a phone interview, adding that Boyle “absolutely” deserves to helm a Slumdog stage show.

Looks like show producer Paul Smith, a big-time UK entertainment figure involved with the original British TV version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, is being effectively backed into a corner. While “creative differences” were reportedly at the center of the Smith-Boyle parting of ways, the answer here is pretty simple. Smith needs to make use of the project-lifeline equivalent of a conciliatory call to Boyle.

[Photo courtesy Fox Searchlight]