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Just when things were starting to look up for Mel Gibson. People were starting to get over all of his hate-mongering, he was ready to bury his directorial hatchet and come back to the world of acting, and he was going to star alongside Robert De Niro in Casino Royale director Martin Campbell’s Edge of Darkness. Then, just like that, the rug has been pulled out from under the production with the abrupt exit of Bobby D, citing creative differences as the cause.

According to Variety, a spokesman for De Niro had this to say: “Sometimes things don’t work out; it’s called creative differences.” Translation: one or more of the aforementioned parties wasn’t getting along with one of the other aforementioned parties. The film had just begun shooting on August 18th in Massachusetts, with De Niro arriving on set this week. And mere days after his arrival, he was gone — almost in a flash.

De Niro had signed to play an operative sent to clean up the evidence in the murder of a young woman. Mel Gibson stars as the victim’s father, a homicide detective for the Boston Police Dept. who uncovers her secret life, a corporate cover-up and government collusion. The filmmakers currently plan to shoot around the scenes that involve De Niro’s character until they can cast someone to replace him. No timetable has been set for the recasting and there is no indication that this will delay the production in any way. Overall, it is a big pile of non-news, but it did offer me the opportunity to put “Robert De Niro Says F&%k Off” in a title, so it did serve some purpose.