Mel Gibson's film crew back in Lynn, sans DeNiro

LYNN - Hollywood crews are slated to return to the Lawrence Gannon Municipal Golf Course on Monday to resume filming “Edge of Darkness” now that actor Robert DeNiro has been replaced by British tough guy Ray Winstone, 51.

DeNiro walked off the set earlier this month after getting into a beef with director Martin Campbell. A DeNiro spokesman attributed the parting of ways to artistic differences.

Several spectators on the links that day said DeNiro was obviously frustrated and tired of repeatedly shooting the scene in which he whacks a ball out of a sand trap on the 15th hole.

The film, starring Mel Gibson and titled “Edge of Darkness,” is based on a 1985 award-winning television mini-series aired on the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC). Gibson, 52, plays straight-laced police homicide detective Thomas Craven, who while investigating the death of his 24-year-old activist daughter, uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.

DeNiro was slated to play a CIA operative whose mission is to destroy the evidence. That responsibility has been shifted to Winstone, who is scheduled to be in Lynn from Monday through Wednesday.

Andrea Scalise, staff aide to Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., confirmed the film company will be back at Gannon for three days. Gibson isn’t expected on the set, she said, noting that the actor was spotted dining a few nights ago at the Outback Steakhouse on Route 114 in Danvers.

The film crew erected a tent at the golf course Friday and began hauling equipment to the set.

“They’ll be shooting the same scene as before,” Scalise said. “It’s a hole with a sand trap. There’s also another hole where they will be filming.”

Mike Foster, the Gannon golf pro, said the front nine holes will be open throughout the filming to accommodate members and scheduled events. The movie production will be located on holes 15, 16 and 17, he said.

Foster said rumors that DeNiro and Campbell argued on the set were simply untrue, as were stories suggesting the scene had to include the Boston skyline in the background. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “In the movie, the golf course is supposedly in Virginia, so they weren’t interested in a view of Boston.”

As for the reported argument on the set between DeNiro and Campbell, according to Foster it didn’t happen — at least not within earshot of spectators and crew. “They never argued out there,” he said. “Maybe they did after they got back to the trailers. It was a long two days, and each time (DeNiro) had to swing maybe 20-30 times for each segment, and there might have been 10 segments. He never hit the ball. They had a guy down in the hole who threw up sand to make it look like DeNiro hit it out. It had to be timed perfectly because they wanted more sand than would have been normal. I guess they wanted to achieve a Hollywood effect.”

Foster noted the 15th hole sand trap was dug deeper Friday in anticipation of the filming. “Looks like a grave,” he said.

Scalise said the company, Edge of Night LLC, paid the city $3,000 for the first shoot at Gannon and another $3,000 for the upcoming filming. The money was paid as a donation in support of the renovation of the Stone Tower in the Lynn Woods Reservation. The city already received a grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission to jumpstart that project.

The film company also wrote a separate check to the golf course Building Committee, which authorized use of the facility.

Winstone’s fans will likely recognize him from his role as Jack Nicholson’s sidekick, Mr. French, in “The Departed,” but his many recent credits include “Sweeney Todd” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” The London-born actor was once an amateur boxer.

The film marks Gibson’s first starring role since the 2002 movies “Signs” and “We Were Soldiers.” He directed 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ” and in 2006 the extravagant “Apocalypto.”

Gibson has been slammed in the Hollywood press by rumors of infidelity and a romantic link to a Russian model and musician known only as Oksana. A Gibson spokesman said Oksana is merely “one of the artists on Mel’s recording label, Icon, and is currently in the U.S. recording a new album.”

The “Edge of Darkness” film crews are also working this month in Rockport, where Gibson’s character visits a beach to scatter this daughter’s ashes, and in Boston, Lincoln, Andover and other nearby communities. The film is scheduled for release in 2009.

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