It’s been in the words for a while, and had a somewhat troubled production (Robert De Niro walked off the set following the ever-popular “creative differences” with director Martin Campbell), but the first trailer for “Edge of Darkness,” starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone (who replaced De Niro) and Danny Huston, has been released over at Yahoo.
Based on the classic 1985 BBC mini-series, which was also directed by Campbell, Gibson plays a cop investigating the murder of his daughter, which may be linked to a nuclear conspiracy. As Collider point out, the movie’s definitely taking hints on its marketing from last year’s January old-man-kicks-the-living-shit-out-of-people-messing-with-his-family sleeper hit “Taken” (suggestions are welcome if anyone has a better name for the genre…), but this looks like it could be fun – a William Monahan script, Martin Campbell, coming off “Casino Royale,” his best ever film, at the helm, and Mel Gibson, who hasn’t been on screen for half a decade, and in this kind of role for much longer, apparently returning to form (and with a surprisingly convincing Boston accent). Still you’d think with Campbell and this cast, this thing could find a better date than January 29 aka dumping ground season.
Or perhaps the left-field success of “Taken” no longer makes January or February such tainted months. Perhaps the studio thinks there’s money to be made there. Afterall, Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” is now set for Feb 2010, but it remains to be seen if “Taken” was a fluke or a strong show of hands from audiences that they need something, preferably dark and violent to see early on in the New Year.
Fun fact: the original ending of the script for the “Edge of Darkness” miniseries involved Gibson’s character, played by Bob Peck (“Jurassic Park”), turning into a tree.
