Al Pacino is famous for playing the bad guy; even when he’s the good guy, he’s still kind of the bad guy. He yells a lot, he makes crazy eyes, his hair always looks like he’s been awake for 37 hours on an anger binge. He’s gravel-voiced and intimidating. So, he was the perfect choice to play a villain in a children’s movie. Unfortunately, he’s reportedly dropped out due to “creative differences” with the producers of “Despicable Me 2”, the highly-anticipated sequel to the Steve Carrell-led animated feature.

What’s most unfortunate is that he was halfway through the recording of his part, meaning the producers were left in the lurch. They issued this statement:

“Over the production of Despicable Me 2, there were creative differences between us and Al Pacino, who had been cast as the voice of Eduardo in the film. We have mutually decided with Al to replace the voice of Eduardo with a new actor. Universal and Illumination thank Al for his many contributions to the process and look forward to a new actor bringing this memorable character to the screen upon its release this summer.”

In fact, knowing that they had to stick to their tight schedule in order to keep a July 3rd release date, those at the helm of the film made a quick decision and snapped up Benjamin Bratt to take Pacino’s place. No statement yet from Pacino, however.

The film is still slated for a summer release and also stars Steve Carrell, Kristen Wiig, Ken Jeong, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, and Steve Coogan.