Rachel Weisz Drops Out of 'Mummy 3'!

Someone heavily involved with the third Mummy film must be screwing, er, working for someone over there at TMZ, because the celebrity gossip site has been all over this film for months. First, they told the world that Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen was being released from development jail (after spending some time locked up following the atrocity that was Stealth) to helm Mummy 3. And now, TMZ has miraculously learned that Rachel Weisz has decided to ditch the project in order to a) attach herself to something a little less tacky and b) spend more time with her brand new baby boy.

Shall I make the joke? Why not. Yes, Weisz has dropped out of Mummy to be more of a Mommy. There! Happy! While it's certainly a serious blow to the film, sources say all is not lost ... yet. Brendan Fraser and Jet Li are still signed on to star, and Cohen will indeed helm. Seeing as the third film will reportedly revolve heavily around the trouble-seeking son of Rick and Evy, perhaps losing Weisz isn't such a big deal after all. With a quick rewrite, her character could be conveniently somewhere else while all the action is taking place. No word yet on whether Weisz will replace Mummy 3 with another film, though TMZ says her name is circling four other projects. Do you think she left because of baby issues or script issues? After all, one recent script review said the pic was a "blatant rip-off of Indiana Jones," featuring some of the worst "on-the-nose" dialogue" the writer had ever seen. Yikes, that's can't be good.

*Update: Variety has confirmed Weisz's departure.