Mel Gibson is returning to directing, with Mark Wahlberg’s help
Wahlberg will star in Flight Risk, Gibson's first directorial feature since 2016 Oscar-winner Hacksaw Ridge
Aux News Mel Gibson
Is there a story that highlights the heartwarming power of friendship better than the steady, largely undesired public rehabilitation of Mel Gibson? Time and time again, over the last few years—and despite it not actually being all that long ago, in the grand scheme of things, since the viewing public was treated, on a somewhat regular basis, to audio recordings of Gibson allegedly saying some pretty vile stuff to police officers/former romantic partners, etc.—his friends have stepped in to give him a lift. Whoopi Goldberg stepping up to defend him on The View. Jodie Foster casting him in the lead role of The Beaver. Mark Wahlberg working with him on Daddy’s Home 2. Mark Wahlberg working with him on Father Stu. And now, Mark Wahlberg agreeing to star in Gibson’s first stint directing a movie since 2016's Hacksaw Ridge.
This is per Deadline, which reports that Wahlberg has signed on for Flight Risk, a new thriller from Gibson, and his sixth studio feature overall. The movie is being shopped around by Lionsgate, which also produced the Oscar-winning Hacksaw, with an eye toward getting it sold as a package at Cannes. Plot details are light, but the film will apparently star Wahlberg as “a pilot transporting a dangerous criminal for trial,” a sort of “Convict Air,” if you will.
It would be inaccurate to characterize this as a comeback for Gibson, since he’s been “back,” making at least one movie for a year, since around the time the allegations got really bad back in 2011. But he’s been more active than ever in recent years, releasing six different movies—including Wahlberg’s Father Stu—in 2022 alone. It’s not actually clear why he’s been out of the director’s chair for so long, in any case, given the vague tolerance Hollywood has shown for him since Hacksaw; the film was critically lauded and a box office success.
32 Comments
Well… we’ll see how it goes?
With so much media to sort through these days, it’s always nice when there’s a big red flag attached to a particular movie that tells me I can totally ignore it.
All we need is for Mel to make a Star War.
a sort of “Convict Air,” if you willCon Air really is a perfect movie.
Con Air being released and Face/Off coming out the very next week (at least in Australia) truly was a great week for cinema in 1997.
That is not what I picture assholes looking like
Thus begins the Mel gibson cycle. He is a piece of shit so hollywwod wants nothing to do with him. Problem is he has talent so someone gives him a shot and then he does a pretty decent job so he gets in more projects and then says something stupid and people want nothing to do with him again. Then it starts again
No denying that the dude’s a talented director. But I don’t know I’ve ever heard a public figure recorded saying such vile shit.At least the most recent one had the unintentional comedy of him literally choking on his own rage, plus the rant fading in and out as he storms through the house and back into the room still going apeshit.
It’s not about talent.These people all know each other. Expecting people to blacklist him for 1-5 years over comments he said? Not actually that unreasonable.But usually what it is in reality is a specific group of society that wants perpetual ostracism, even when the events in question are well in the rear view and so you start ending up in this situation where you’re asking people who know a person and have much more experience with them than the 2 minute soundbites of him at his worst.I’m not excusing him – if you’re going to black list anyone, he’s earned it. But it’s like taking one of your good friends, then being expected to be the one who perpetually punishes him for someone else’s sake. For a lot of these people – Mel’s just a guy who can act and directs. You may see him at a party. You may have exchanged kind words. He’s not his press clippings.
He should be cancelled, amirite?
and he’s still directing lethal weapon 5 at some point too right?
I forgot about that. The way each Lethal Weapon sequel brought more people into the ‘a family’ was like a proto-Fast and Furious.
Yeah, I’ll believe that’s actually for-real happening and not just some kind of Hollywood “we’re really excited about these new script-writers” bullshit ‘happening’ when I’m actually watching it. And even then I’ll probably just assume someone’s doped the water supply with psychotropic drugs or something.
ah yeah i’m seeing now that there’s merely ‘interest’ i thought it was in pre-pro. they might be waiting to see how beverly hills cop 4 does.
Not much need for script writers on a film like LW5. Hiring any would imply a need for a script…
At least when he’s directing you don’t have to see him. A double benefit now that he looks like the actual devil.
That’s funny, I was literally looking at the picture and was wondering where I’ve seen that before. It is a stereotypical satan.
He truly does look like a vaguely unsettling stranger who appears from nowhere the minute you express that you’d give anything for some goal of yours to be achieved.
“I know I speak for the entire motor pool in wishing you luck on that big promotion. You want the job, I’ll need five gallons of diesel and some high-octane gasoline. Oh, and your soul.”
What a bargain: two racist shitebags for the price of one!
I want a movie of Mel Gibson playing himself, completely losing his shit at Joe Eszterhas’s place in Costa Rica. I won’t pay for a ticket to that, but I want him to make the movie.
Whalberg has AIDS!?!
Mel Gibson is great. I guess ‘The Resurrection’ is somewhere in the works, too, with Mel behind the cam. He’s the man with a plan. God bless him!
I guess I’m the odd duck—I can separate the Mel behind the camera from the other Mel. Just like Tom Cruise and his Scientology stuff—who cares about his life outside film as long as he makes fun movies. So I’m down with Mel directing again, why not?What I can’t forgive is Wahlberg. How in the world people still pay him to “act” is beyond me.
Christofascists gotta stick together!
Racists gotta stick together I guess
Is there a story that highlights the heartwarming power of friendship better than the steady, largely undesired public rehabilitation of Mel Gibson?Let us not forget story of the public rehabilitation of Mark Wahlberg. Who said all the same kinds of shit as Mel Gibson but rather than drunken rants at hs arresting officers and unhinged voicemails, he said all that stuff while in the process of violently assaulting people.
The only thing that I would pay to watch either of them do is DROWN….
If Hollywood thinks they can make money from you then you are never really cancelled.
Mel Gibson is the perfect reminder that “cancel culture” isn’t really a thing. Mark Wahlberg is the perfect reminder that spending some minimal time in prison for horrific crimes isn’t necessarily going to derail some young man’s future prospects.
Stoked he’s back. I’ll take some nasty behavior from 10+ years ago for some great directing.