Actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson is stepping back into the director’s chair for the highly anticipated fifth instalment of the action-packed Lethal Weapon series, following the passing of its original director, Richard Donner. At 68, Gibson has only helmed one film in the last decade — 2016’s gripping Hacksaw Ridge. Now, he’s not just aiming to revive Lethal Weapon, he’s also setting his sights on a sequel to his 2004 blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ.
In a recent interview with ComicBook, Gibson opened up about the hurdles that are currently holding up both projects, giving fans a glimpse into the challenges behind the scenes. When asked which one of the two films he is planning to work on first, he said, “I don’t know, and that’s the funny thing. I mean, there’s various obstacles to getting any film up on its feet, and not just budgetary, but there’s like, there’s 1,000,001 reason why something goes and why it doesn’t. So it’s really kind of a crapshoot at this point what goes first and which came first, whether it’s the chicken or the egg.”
In 2021, Gibson revealed that he was planning to work on the fifth instalment of the Lethal Weapon film franchise, which originally ran from 1987 until 1998. Earlier this year, he said on Steven Olexy’s podcast he still very much wanted to direct Lethal Weapon 5.
“Richard Donner, who did the other four, sadly passed away, and he was a good friend. He kind of tasked me with carrying the flag home on this one, so it’ll be an honour for me to do that. He had gone a fair way with the screenplay, so we’ve used what was there, and we kept poking at it. I’m pretty happy with it,” Gibson said.
According to ComicBook, the problem is that the actor-director doesn’t fully control the rights of Lethal Weapon, so it is proving to be a challenge on his path to make the fifth instalment. Meanwhile, the issue with his second film, The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection, is the lead actor Jim Caviezel. While he has agreed to do the film and is more than interested, his age has become a hindrance. Gibson’s biblical drama was released back in 2004, creating a gap of 20 years between both the films, and now, Caviezel has gotten older. As the story of the sequel would be set just days after Jesus’ crucifixion, Gibson wants the actor to look as young as possible.
While the current situation is challenging for both films, Mel Gibson plans to continue working on them.
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