Fox has emailed a couple of websites on the recent Hitman rumour that the Director Xavier Gans was off the project and that Nicolas De Toth, the Editor who had recut Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard) (Filmstalker review), was on board to tone down the film and remove the gore, as he did with the language and violence in Die Hard 4.0.

It seems that De Toth has been hired as a consultant only, and that Gans is still wholly on the project. They are also adamant that there isn't going to be a rating change on this and that they are expecting an R, and always have been, for Hitman.

This isn't an official statement as yet, and I expect that there will be one to follow it up soon, but it does suggest that they are going to keep Xavier Gans on Hitman and not replace him totally with Nicolas De Toth.

What's also interesting is that the email that Rope of Silicon received from their Fox representative also says quite clearly that De Toth is not the Editor, and that the current Editor remains on.

So why do they need another consultant Editor? One who is most recently known for his excellent – even if I don't agree with it – work on Die Hard 4.0 to remove all that swearing and violence that would corrupt us all?

I'm not trying to feed the flames on this one, it just seems odd that they've had to pull him in. If it's not to tone anything down do they feel that the action isn't up to par and they want to use Die Hard 4.0 as a benchmark?

The question as to why hasn't been answered, just that they are going for a hard Hitman film. I guess that's a bit of a respite for us, however remember the denial about the Wachowski's taking over The Invasion and the slow realisation as to how much they were actually reshooting.