See The First Look At Mel Gibson In The New John Wick Series
Peacock has released the first image of Mel Gibson as Cormac in The Continental, as well as some other images from the miniseries.
Photos of Mel Gibson in the John Wick spinoff The Continental have been released, giving fans their first look at Cormac, the ruthless proprietor of the mythical hotel. Gibson appears in the photos dressed impeccably in a pinstripe blazer, complete with a red and white checked pocket square.
Gibson’s Cormac looks to be every bit the impeccable dresser that Keanu Reeves’s titular assassin is.
Of course, no discussion of Mel Gibson would be complete without addressing the antisemitic elephant in the room. The 67-year-old has faced many accusations over the last twenty-or-so years, including alleged antisemitism, domestic abuse, and racism.
The fact that several of Gibson’s more heinous alleged offenses have been documented in some capacity or another makes it somewhat difficult for the actor/director to refute many of the accusations against him.
All of this makes Mel Gibson a questionable hire in 2023, something the creators behind The Continental were forced to address when asked about their decision to cast the star.
According to IGN, executive producer Basil Iwanyk was asked if there was any hesitation when casting Gibson in light of his controversies, to which the producer answered a curt “no.”
The exec later clarified that he didn’t intend for his answer to come out as dismissive but rather that there wasn’t any consideration before casting Gibson whatsoever.
Albert Hughes, who is performing a duel role as executive producer and director on the upcoming Peacock series, was asked the same question and put a little more thought into his answer. “No. I think he fit the role based on his film past,” said Hughes.
The producer/director said that he would leave “others to debate the other stuff” calling the accusations against Mel Gibson “not black-and-white” and claiming that he didn’t want to be “sound-bited.”
While the Court of public opinion puts no official statute of limitations on societal shunning, it would seem that Hollywood, in general, has softened when it comes to its opinion of Mel Gibson. The Academy gave Gibson the Best Director nomination for Hacksaw Ridge in 2016.
This was the same year in which Gibson called his 2006 remarks about “Jews causing all the wars in the world” an “unfortunate incident” and a scant five years after the actor pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge against a former partner.
While many people seem to have made peace with Mel Gibson’s problematic past, not everyone has forgiven the actor’s alleged transgressions.
In 2021 someone responded to the news of Gibson’s casting in The Continental by tweeting, “It’s not that Mel Gibson proves cancel culture isn’t a thing. It’s that hiring Mel Gibson shows society actively doesn’t care about DV, racism, or antisemitism.”
Case in point, director Albert Hughes’ final words on hiring Mel Gibson: “I don’t think anybody could have fit better, let’s put it that way.” Ultimately whether Mel Gibson is a good person or not doesn’t matter as long as he can bring the talent.
The Continental debuts on Peacock this September.
