At this point, Mel Gibson is trolling us.
He’d originally stated that he was going to direct and star in “Lethal Weapon 5.” Then last week he mentioned how he has yet to decide whether “Lethal Weapon 5” or ‘Passion of the Christ 2’ would be his next film.
This afternoon, in his first-ever convention appearance, Gibson told FanX attendees that he’s sitting on a “Lethal Weapon 5” script and is having trouble getting it made.
“The fifth one is written,” said Gibson. “It’s interesting. It’s been held up for one reason or another. There’s always issues with these things. It just won’t get made for some reason or another. I can’t even explain why.”
It’s not hard to read between the lines here. Gibson is a very controversial figure. His downfall started when he lost his sobriety and suffered through the dark deep pits of alcoholism (roughly between 2005 and 2011). During that time, he sexually harassed a police officer, yelled racist slurs, blamed Jews for various wars, and was caught on tape verbally abusing and harassing his girlfriend.
Five years later, Gibson somehow managed to mount a comeback in Hollywood by directing 2016’s “Hacksaw Ridge,” which went on to garner six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Then #MeToo happened in 2017, society changed, and Gibson went back to being a pariah.
Gibson now mostly stars in C-list fare. If you can believe it, he hasn’t acted in a hit movie since 2002’s “Signs,” and hasn’t had a movie make decent dough at the box-office since 2010’s “Edge of Darkness” (it earned $80M). The good news is that he’s independently financing and will shoot “The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection” possibly next year and has directed “Flight Risk,” starring Mark Wahlberg, set for release in January 2025.
With all of that in mind, why would Warner Bros allow a ‘Lethal Weapon’ sequel to get made? It doesn’t help that Gibson is now 68 and his co-star, Danny Glover, is 78.