Mel Gibson Directing Lethal Weapon 5?
Could Mel Gibson be the answer to getting Lethal Weapon 5 on screens? Here's what another actor has to say.
This article is more than 2 years old
It is well known that director Richard Donner wanted Lethal Weapon 5 to be the last film he helmed before retiring. Though it is hard to see the franchise continuing without Donner, The Goonies star Corey Feldman has raised hope that it is possible the lead actor of the Lethal Weapon films, Mel Gibson, could fulfill the late director’s dream by making the fifth film.
Lethal Weapon 5 is still a possibility according to Corey Feldman, who has starred in Richard Donner’s The Goonies. In a recent chat with Movieweb, Corey Feldman shared the discussion he recently had with Mel Gibson where they spoke about Donner’s death and the fate of Lethal Weapon 5. According to Fieldman, even though the director had committed to making the film, he was in no state to go forward with it at the age of 91. While he would have still went ahead with it as he was motivated to do it, it would have been a big pressure for the aging director to be mindful of the hundreds of things involved in helming a film. The last film Donner directed was 16 Blocks, which was released back in 2006, post which he majorly stuck to producing a few films.
“Because, you know, he just didn’t have it in him. You can’t look at seven monitors at once and shoot seven cameras during these action sequences and watch every detail of everything when you’re 91 years old,” said Corey Feldman.
Fieldman also shared Mel Gibson has disclosed that after Richard Donner passed away, many people recommended the actor-director to helm Lethal Weapon 5 in his place. And as far as Feldman is concerned, no one is better than Gibson to direct the long-awaited finale to the Lethal Weapon film series and he even encouraged the Braveheart actor to actually do it. But as Gibson is yet to make an official commitment to the project, Feldman hopes that his discussion with him will encourage the actor to seriously consider the idea.
The plans for making a fifth Lethal Weapon film have been in the pipeline for a very long time and have been delayed because of one reason or another. First Mel Gibson and Danny Glover turned down the film, presumably because Warner Bros. didn’t want Donner to direct it, even though he and Lethal Weapon 4 writer Channing Gibson had a story ready. When the studio’s plans fell through, Donner was brought back on the project in 2017. Both Gibson, as well as Glover, were also ready to return as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh respectively. In 2020, the film was in active development, with Donner slated to produce and direct. But everything fell apart once again when Donner passed away in July this year.
Mel Gibson has directed critically acclaimed and commercially hit films like Braveheart, for which he earned the Academy Award for Best Director, Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, as well as 2016’s Hacksaw Bridge that earned him his second Best Director nomination at the Oscars. While he is clearly the best choice to direct Lethal Weapon 5 after Donner, in case he doesn’t want to direct the film Feldom believes that another actor associated with the past films should helm it to ensure that it’s successful.
