After news broke only a couple of days ago that Mel Gibson (Edge of Darkness) would be appearing in the sequel to last year’s hit comedy; The Hangover; it appears that the bubble has now burst, and that Mel will not actually be making a cameo appearance in the movie, as not all members of the cast and crew approved of his impending involvement.
Todd Phillips (who’s returning to direct the sequel) has stated that he “thought Mel would be great in the movie, and had the full backing of [Warner Bros. President] Jeff Robinov and his team”, to have Mel appear in a cameo role as a larger-than-life tattoo artist working in Thailand (as the setting for the sequel has moved from Las Vegas, to Bangkok), but “ultimately didn’t have the full support of the entire cast and crew.”
There’s no official word on which specific members of the cast and crew objected to Mel’s involvement (which would have only been as part of a two week shoot in the Warner Bros. lot, and not actually taken part in Thailand with the rest of the filming), although many believe it was the series’ breakout star; Zach Galifianakis (Due Date); who was unhappy with the Braveheart star being cast; as he’s reportedly turned down several projects on “moral grounds” (suggesting he many not have been happy with some of Mel’s public outbursts), and has admitted to being in “deep protest” about an unspecified issue on “a movie he’s working on now.”
Gibson’s hopes for a comeback (and re-winning the heart’s of the public) now rest firmly on the release of his movie The Beaver (if it ever manages to acquire a release date), but despite his omission, and the cameo slot in The Hangover sequel now being wide-open, The Hangover 2 is still on track, and will move to complete filming in Thailand at the end of the month, and will be released in the U.K. on May 27th, 2011, and the U.S. on July 4th of the same year.
