Movie Make-out

It’s been four years since his last film (Paparazzi) and six since his last starring roles (Signs, We Were Soldiers), but Mel Gibson is officially stepping out of the director’s chair and back onto the screen. Variety has announced that Gibson is signed on to star in a remake of the 1985 television miniseries Edge of Darkness.

Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), who directed the six hour BBC miniseries, will direct. The film will be written and produced by William Monohan and Graham King, respectively. The two last worked together on The Departed.

Gibson is reportedly a great fan of the miniseries, and will play “a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. He plunges into the case and uncovers systemic corruption that led to his daughter’s death.”

Gibson’s choice of the role is especially noteworthy, given the length of time he has remained, by choice, off screen. Between his obsessive directorial activities and his DUI (and subsequent comments), one wonders if there isn’t some possible significance to his decision return to acting with this film, as opposed to the Sam and George or Under and Alone, which Gibson has had next-at-bat for years. But what? Could it be the chance to not only work on a remake of a miniseries he loved, but underneath the Oscar-winning producers of one of the best films of the past few years? Could be. And if Gibson comes to the film with his A-game, it should be worth it.