ROME -- ***"The Hours"***, expected to be one of the biggest crowd-pullers in the 59th Venice Film Festival at the end of this month, was pulled off the bill on Friday due to delays in post-production, organizers said.

Directed by Stephen Daldry who made his name with ***"Billy Elliot", "The Hours"**** has a star-studded cast including Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep, Reuters reported.

"The producer, Miramax, said that they still had to complete technical modifications...and it won't be ready in time," a spokeswoman for the festival said.

Organizers said Todd Haynes' ***"Far From Heaven"***, also starring Moore, will fill the vacant slot in the main Golden Lion competition.

Festival organizers also said Adoor Gopalakrishnan's ***"Nizhalkkuthu"*** would now compete in the 'Upstream' section -- devoted to first full-length films at the cinematic fringes.

And Ridha Behi's ***"La Boite Magique"*** and Aurelio Grimaldi's ***"Rosa Funzeca"*** were also named as late-comers to the Venice program, which kicks off on August 29.