Director Todd Phillips
It was quite the talk last week when embattled movie star Mel Gibson was said to be appearing briefly as an opinionated Tattoo Artist in the Hangover 2. All seemed to be going well for the star to get his career back on track until news broke that his role has since been axed. Director Todd Philips was keen to have him do the movie and had the backing of the studios until certain cast members protested.
I thought Mel would have been great in the movie and I had the full backing of Jeff Robinov and his team. But I realize film-making is a collaborative effort, and this decision ultimately did not have the full support of my entire cast and crew.
The first Hangover movie featured disgraced boxer Mike Tyson in a cameo role that is said to have fueled his drug binges. The cast was fine with his participation though no-one knew how big the film would become and now have considerable weight in Hollywood.
It seems the rising star of Zach Galifianakis was enough to have the one time superstar booted from the role. Ten years ago he would have loved to have worked with him, though most people would have; now it seems that Mel’s alcohol fueled rages have destroyed most of his nice guy reputation.
When Galifianakis was interviewed for Scott Aukerman’s podcast, he was coy to give specifics but eluded to his opposition of the former superstar’s participation.
But a movie you’re acting in, you don’t have a lot of control—you just show up and vomit your lines out. I’m not the boss. 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….It has something to do with a movie I’m working on, yeah. I’ll tell you about it later. It’s very frustrating.
The Hangover sequel starring Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms centers on what happens after a hard night of partying in Bangkok and Helm’s character Stu ends up sleeping with a transvestite and the guys spend most of the next day trying to figuring out what happened.
The Hangover 2 staggers into cinemas May 25, 2011.
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