Mel Gibson has been out of the spotlight for a while. Some of his personal controversies may have caused him to shy away from cameras, but even before his arrest and divorce, he'd been paving quite a successful career as a director. Next year's Edge of Darkness marks his return to acting, and his producer said it was an easy well.

"Mel and I did a read through for three days," said Graham King. "He kept wanting to read through, read through. Then we would discuss whether this is the right movie he should come back into."

Lucky for King. He had a high priced thriller about a detective investigating the government and corporate conspiracy in his daughter's death. "As far as I was concerned, he was the only guy that could make this movie go because tell me an actor that can have a 23-year-old daughter today on screen, and can open a movie for $90 million? There's nobody. It's crazy, but there's nobody. I can't think of one."

Well, George Clooney is the right age, right? "Clooney will never want to do a movie with a 23-year-old daughter." Ah-ha.

Edge of Darkness opens January 29.





Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer

(Starpulse in Hollywood): Every week, Hollywood's biggest stars are meeting in the hot spots and Starpulse is there.