Late last week, I’d written up a post about Mel Gibson making a cameo appearance in ‘The Hangover 2’, and how that didn’t seem like a wise decision to me. Lo and behold, before I could run the article, news came that Gibson had been dropped from the movie. So, looks like I’m not alone in this after all.
A while back, we ran a poll here in the blog asking if you would watch a new Mel Gibson movie after all the drunken, misogynist, racist, crazytown scandal in his life. The results came back that a majority here claimed they’d be willing to give him another chance at a career comeback. I’m still not sure that I’m on board with that. Regardless, the actor was recently cast to appear in the sequel to ‘The Hangover‘ – possibly as himself.
On the heels of that announcement, rumors started circulating that star Zach Galifianakis wasn’t too happy about Gibson being in his movie. In an appearance on the ‘Comedy Death-Ray’ podcast, the actor said, “I’m in a deep protest right now with a movie I’m working on, up in arms about something. But I can’t get the guys to [listen] … I’m not making any leeway.” When host Scott Aukerman started to pronounce a title that was clearly ‘The Hangover’, Galifianakis cut him off and said, “It has something to do with a movie I’m working on, yeah. I’ll tell you about it later. It’s very frustrating.” Was he talking about Gibson, or some unrelated grievance?
Whatever the real story behind that may be, it’s now confirmed that Gibson’s off the project. His part in the film will be replaced by a cameo from Liam Neeson instead.
Hollywood seems to be pretty divided over what to do with Gibson. The movie that would have been his next starring role (‘The Beaver’, directed by Jodie Foster) has been shelved and may never see distribution. Nonetheless, someone clearly hoped that the ‘Hangover’ sequel would work the same type of image rehabilitation voodoo that the first movie offered Mike Tyson. I guess we’ll never know.
I have to ask whether it’s too soon for Gibson to poke fun at his personal troubles, when he hasn’t actually owned up to any of them yet? Would you find this funny?
Perhaps an even better question is whether ‘The Hangover’ needs a sequel at all. The first movie was passably entertaining and had a few really solid laughs, but was quite egregiously overrated. It’s not the sort of thing I feel the need to watch more than once. It also had a fairly closed-off narrative that didn’t beg for a sequel. What’s the point of revisiting this, other than a blatant cash-in on an unexpected box office hit?
Thulsadoom
I’m starting to come round to Josh’s view, that Gibson may have some increasing mental ailment. I mean, look at his past film career? It just doesn’t make sense… Heck, if he was such a blatant racist in the past, could he have hidden it through all of his film career, prime example; working with Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapons? Not to mention, would Danny Glover have stooped to working with someone like the current Gibson comes across as?
Heck, would a complete sexist/racist make films like Lethal Weapon 2 (Which was the biggest anti-racism film of the 4) or What Women Want, on the anti-sexist front?
Some kind of mental instability like a series of personality changing mini-strokes could be a possibility… or any number of things. I wouldn’t normally make excuses for an actor’s bad behaviour, but it’s difficult to get around how different this personality seems to that from years gone by. Perhaps he was just better at hiding it back then, but he was never THAT good an actor…
Dick Ward
It’s a complete disappointment to me. I think the idea of a ‘Hangover 2’ is just stupid, but I was looking forward to seeing what the did with Mel. Sure, the man’s apparently going crazy, but I just plain like him as an actor. His personal life, to me, is just that.
I love Liam Neeson, but that’s not even close to as interesting a cameo. Putting Gibson in there would have added a bit of edge to a movie that desperately needs it.
Duane Thomas
You and I finally have something that we totally agree on. Well said.
BostonMA
so Mike Tyson is convicted of rape and then gets a SMALL ROLE in the first film but…
Mel Gibson, after getting a DUI and angrily yelling at his girlfriend, cannot do even a simple cameo.
i guess what Mel should have do is get himself a Jewish and then brutally rape her.
he should be all set then.
BostonMA
*correction: should do is get himself a Jewish girlfriend…
Dick Ward
Well yeah, but rape isn’t as bad as saying something racist in a private conversation!
Oh wait a minute…
BostonMA
..precisely.
now, i type this below to meet the word length rule.
AlexWS
No matter how I feel about Gibson himself (pretty much indifferent), I thought it sounded like a funny idea having him in a movie about idiocy while drunk. Provided the movie would have made fun of Mel and his personality, it could have been pretty awesome.