Alec Baldwin Leaves Troubled 'Men In Black III'

Barry Sonnenfeld's "Men In Black III" has a list of troubles so long that it could reach another planet: the schedule was planned so that the first act would be shot in November, then a hiatus would follow allowing the writing team to finish the script (yes, they shot the first act with an unfinished script), then the rest of production would follow.

It's no small wonder that now there are debates over the script and production has slowed to a halt.

You can now add one more problem to the "MIB 3" list of woes: Alec Baldwin, who was to play the head of MIB in 1969 where Will Smith's character travels back in time (yeah, it's a time-travel script), has left the production.

He put it simply and succinctly: "I'm not doing that. I'm out of it; the schedule didn't work out."

No kidding. It's one of the stranger filming schedules I've heard of, and it keeps the crew and actors hanging on for a long time.

Doing a time-travel movie is hard enough: the scripts can be a nightmare. To shoot the first act with the rest of it unfinished is downright suicidal.

The writers now have an even tougher job ahead of them as they are stuck with the first act whether it works with the rest of the film or not.