Can We Separate the Art from the Racist? Mel Gibson Threatens To Direct 'Lethal Weapon 5'

I wonder what it’s like to sign on to a Mel Gibson picture these days. You have to meet with him. You’ll likely discuss the project. He’ll tell a few anecdotes about his career; you’ll do the same. Maybe he asks if you want some tea. At one point, he wonders if you’re cool with the fact that in 2006, he angrily yelled at his arresting officer that Jewish people were responsible for war. You laugh nervously. Then he asks if you heard about the time in 2010 when he told his then-wife that if she was “r***d by a pack of n*****s” it would be her fault.

Mel Gibson sucks. In his most private moments, he showed us how ugly he truly is. There is no getting around that. And yet, he’s pretty much cleared it with ease. Yes, Gibson’s career is not nearly what it once was, but he still has one. He’s still starred in and directed movies. Hacksaw Ridge, which he directed and was released in 2016, got six Oscar nominations. He’s been doing just fine, despite being a garbage person. Now, he’s threatening to direct a sequel to one of his most beloved films.

Gibson was a guest on the Inspire Me podcast. Lethal Weapon came up, and ole Mel decided to let the cat out of the bag. “I’m gonna direct the fifth film in the ‘Lethal Weapon’ series,” Gibson told the audience. “Richard Donner, who did the other four, sadly passed away and he was a good friend, and he kind of tasked me with carrying the flag home on that one. So it’ll be an honor for me to do that.”

According to Gibson, a script is being worked on and is almost ready to go. “[Donner] had gotten a fair way into writing the screenplay, and we’ve used what was there. We kept kind of poking at it, working it and I’m pretty happy with it, it’s good, I had a lot of fun doing it.”

There was a time when Gibson directing a fifth Lethal Weapon film would have excited me. Not completely. They are Richard Donner’s films. But Gibson is a good director. He’s a wonderful actor. I wish I could be excited about what Riggs and Murtaugh will be getting into now that they are definitely too old for this s***. But I can’t. Not when we’ve seen Gibson’s racism and anti-semitism on full display.