Mel Gibson was unceremoniously dumped earlier this week by Warner Bros and director Todd Phillips’ “The Hangover 2″. The reason? Some people on the cast and crew weren’t happy that ”a drunk/racist” had been hired to work on their movie. Pity, Gibson would have been great… but more to the point, we know there’s much more to his story (the racism, rants, rape claims) than the media lets on. Alas, he’s off the film.
According to Deadline, Phillips has found a replacement – or rather, “Hangover” star Bradley Cooper has; he’s roped in “A-Team” co-star Liam Neeson to play the tattooist character that Gibson was set to play. Neeson will film his scenes on Sunday at the Warner Bros lot.
Bit of trivia for you : Mel Gibson was originally the favourite to play Col. Hannibal Smith in an “A-Team” movie but it was Liam Neeson who ultimately got the job!

Previously…

Seems, unlike us, some people weren’t so excited at the prospect of having Mel Gibson scene-steal his way into the “Hangover” sequel.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the tabloid target had been roped into playing a ‘tattoo artist’ in “The Hangover 2″, with his scenes to be shot shortly in Los Angeles (standing in for Thailand).

Sounded great.

Unfortunately, some of the cast and crew (*cough* Zach Galifanakis *cough*) weren’t so pleased about the outspoken Gibson’s hiring and voted to have his cameo dumped.

They (*cough* Zach *cough*) got their (*his*) wish.

Director Todd Phillips tells TMZ, “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 filmmaking is a collaborative effort, and this decision ultimately did not have the full support of my entire cast and crew.”

As Clint’s said before, I think it’s disappointing that people can’t separate Mel Gibson “at home” from Mel Gibson “at work” – he’s a good actor and that’s all that should matter.

Phillips will, I bet, recast another big name in the Gibson part. Can I vote for Clint Eastwood!? What about Sylvester Stallone!?