Friday, January 29

• Mel Gibson's Advice for Aging Movie Stars

  Mel Gibson may be getting up there in years, but to anyone who doubts his 54-year-old body can handle the rigors of headlining a thriller like Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness, Gibson says:

  I can still kick ass.

  It's been eight years since Gibson starred in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs — years he spent producing, directing, and dealing with the fallout of his infamous Malibu rant. But, despite the mileage, Gibson says that he can still compete with younger actors, even offering up advice to other aging movie stars.

  You can still do the rough house. You just have to book up the chiropractor in advance. Do it in advance — that would be my only advice. Works for me every time, sorts me out.

  It's good advice, but Gibson's message comes a tad late to help out fellow '80s-action-movie alum Sylvester Stallone. Stallone recently admitted that he broke his neck while shooting a fight scene for his new movie, The Expendables.

  In Edge of Darkness, Gibson plays a veteran detective in search of the truth behind the murder of his daughter (played by Bojana Novakovic), a revenge-fueled quest that reveals his daughter's dark secrets and the cover-ups that led to her death. Early reviews of the film are all across the board, with aggregate review site RottenTomatoes giving Edge of Darkness an average rating of 58%.

  
  
  Next Showing: Edge of Darkness is in theaters now
  

  Edge Of Darkness - Trailer

  A suspense thriller starring Mel Gibson
  

  Edge Of Darkness - Interview

  Mel Gibson "On his character's mental state"

  Posted 01/29/2010 by BrentJS

  Related: Mel Gibson | Martin Campbell | Edge of Darkness

Wednesday, January 27

• Edge of Darkness Reviews

  It's been eight years since Mel Gibson has played a lead role, and it looks like he's aged about twice that much since starring in 2002's Signs. Was it worth the wait? So far, this is a highly polarizing pic.

  "An intense Mel Gibson performance anchors this brutally effective crime thriller."

  — Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter

  "Onscreen much of the time, thicker and more creased than you remember, he [Gibson] can make this rather unshapely movie seem taut."

  — Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice

  "In terms of consistent visceral thrills, Taken this isn't — despite [director] Campbell's demonstrable flair for shooting action."

  — Brian Lowry, Variety

  "...a tonally stilted procedural with an inappropriately impassive air, given the hero's quest to avenge a beloved daughter shotgunned to pieces in his presence."

  — Ryan Stewart, Slant Magazine

  "For obvious reasons ... Mel Gibson desperately needs a good movie. His fans need to see him in one. I am sorry to report that Edge of Darkness is not it."

  — Rex Reed, New York Observer

  
  

  Posted 01/27/2010 by reelz

  Related: Mel Gibson | Edge of Darkness

Monday, January 25

• Martin Campbell on Why He Directed Edge of Darkness

  Not many directors get to make a TV mini-series and then create a movie based on the same material 25 years later, but that's exactly what Martin Campbell has done with Edge of Darkness. The director spoke with ComingSoon about why he returned to the story so many years later.

  What happened was that someone suggested making it into a movie way back in 2000, and I was kind of lukewarm about it. I thought, "Oh, well ... maybe they can get some money to develop the thing," and over the next five or six years, a writer called Andrew Bovell, a very good writer from Australia, sort of whittled it down from six hours to where it is now, a two-hour movie. I was doing other projects, Casino" [Royale] amongst them, and this was being developed as it were behind me, and then at about the sixth draft, it was shaping up pretty well, and I read it, and I had just met Graham King and had suggested it to him, and he said, "Look, I'll finance it, because I love the series," so he did. I sent it to Mel [Gibson], and Mel was kind of interested. We then got Bill Monahan to do the final two drafts of the movie, and Mel was on board, so it all came together basically.

  Campbell admits he treated Edge of Darkness as a "completely separate" movie from the TV series, though besides moving from England to Boston and losing some of the political backstory of "Thatcher's England," Campbell says the two iterations of the story are still similar.

  Clearly you have to lose a lot of stuff when you reduce six hours down. The characters that remain are the leads, which is Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) and Craven (Gibson), and all the emotional stakes in the movie are identical to the series, i.e. a police detective whose daughter is murdered and he sets out to discover who was responsible. The kind of emotional spine of the story is identical to the series.

  Gibson's role of Detective Thomas Craven is his first since 2002's Signs, having been busying himself by directing movies like Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto. Campbell says Gibson approached the process simply as an actor.

  He simply said at the beginning of the movie: "Look, I'm just an actor. I'm not a director, I'm not a producer, I'm none of that. I simply want to act in this and that's what we're doing." He made it very clear up front that that's what his role was.

  
  
  Next Showing: Edge of Darkness opens January 29
  

  Edge Of Darkness - Trailer

  A suspense thriller starring Mel Gibson
  

  Edge Of Darkness - Interview

  Ray Winstone "On working with Martin Campbell"

  Posted 01/25/2010 by Ryan

  Related: Mel Gibson | William Monahan | Martin Campbell | Andrew Bovell | Graham King | Edge of Darkness

Tuesday, January 19

• New Edge of Darkness Clips

  Martin Campbell is hard at work preparing for Green Lantern now that his latest movie, Edge of Darkness, is ready to hit theaters this month. The movie, based on a 1985 BBC mini-series that Campbell directed, is Mel Gibson's first leading role since 2002's Signs. Gibson plays a homicide detective who starts investigating the death of his daughter and uncovers a conspiracy of corporate and government collusion.

  Warner Brothers has released 7 clips to help promote the movie, which Collider has compiled together into one long clip for your viewing convenience. Check them out below:

  
  
  Next Showing: Edge of Darkness opens January 29
  

  Edge Of Darkness - Trailer

  Trailer for this thriller starring Mel Gibson

  Posted 01/19/2010 by Ryan

  Related: Mel Gibson | Martin Campbell | Edge of Darkness

Monday, January 18

• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4 and His Viking Movie

  Mel Gibson and his production company, Icon Entertainment, may be co-producing the upcoming Mad Max 4, but there's no word if Gibson will appear in the movie. Gibson spoke to Collider about the project, but didn't exactly clear up the confusion.

  I've talked to [director] George [Miller] [about Mad Max 4] ... yeah. We talk all the time anyway. I'm abreast of that. He's been trying to do this for years — the 4th installment. At one point I was involved and it fell to bits and then this and that ... so now it's probably gone through a lot of changes and I can't wait to see it cause everything he does is magic. There is a touch of genius about George.

  While it doesn't sound like Mel will play a role in the sequel, it doesn't exactly close the door either. While Gibson didn't speak about his next starring role in How I Spent My Summer Vacation, which is drawing protests in Mexico, he did open up about his next directorial project, which will be an untitled movie about Vikings written by The Departed screenwriter William Monahan (who also wrote Gibson's upcoming Edge of Darkness) and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

  [Next,] I'm working with [producer] Graham [King] on the Viking movie. The very first idea I ever had about making a film ... my first thought about ever being a filmmaker was when I was sixteen years old and I wanted to make a Viking movie. And I wanted to make it in old Norse, which I was studying at the time. It's odd because at that age that's a stupidly ridiculous idea cause how will I ever be a filmmaker. It's just some kind of romantic pipe dream. But that was the first big, epic, wacky idea I ever had was to show Viking real.

  I think it's going to be [in] English — the English that would have been spoken back then — and Old Norse. Whatever the 9th century had to offer. I'm going to give you real.

  Going back to the original dialect will be a key for the movie, Gibson revealed.

  I want a Viking to scare you. I don't want a Viking to say, "I'm going to die with a sword in my hand." I don't want to hear that. It pulls the rug out from under you. I want to see somebody who I have never seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living s**t out of me coming up to my house. What is that like? What would that have been like?

  
  

  Posted 01/18/2010 by Ryan

  Related: Mel Gibson | Leonardo DiCaprio | William Monahan | Graham King | Fury Road

Saturday, January 2

• Latest Mel Gibson Movie Prompts Protests

  Ever since his notorious Malibu tirade, Mel Gibson can't seem to steer clear of controversy. Recently spotted in Veracruz, Mexico, the intended location for part of his next movie, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Gibson was the target of a large contingent of protestors last weekend.

  Veracruz Governor Fidel Herrera announced last month that inmates at one prison were going to be shipped off to an undisclosed location to accommodate Gibson's shoot. According to Variety, when officers were seen taking pictures outside the prison on Sunday, upwards of 300 friends and family members of inmates gathered outside, protesting and waving signs, some of which read, "Mel Gibson, it's your fault they are moving our family members" and "Don't take them away, they aren't animals."

  Written by and starring Gibson, How I Spent My Summer Vacation tells the story of a career criminal who learns to survive inside a dangerous Mexican prison with the help of a nine-year-old boy. Principal photography is expected to begin in March, with the shoot being split between Veracruz and San Diego. Adrian Grunberg, Gibson's first assistant director on Apocalypto, will helm the movie.

  
  

  Posted 01/02/2010 by BrentJS

  Related: Mel Gibson | Adrian Grunberg | Apocalypto

Thursday, December 31

• Mel Gibson Co-Producing Mad Max 4, But Will He Star?

  According to Moviehole, actor/director Mel Gibson's production company has announced that it will be producing Mad Max 4. Whether or not that means Gibson will be reprising his iconic role in what is rumored to be a prequel is unsure, but news that he's committed to the flick can only be a good sign.

  Mad Max director George Miller says he wants Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in the fourth movie. Hardy was previously reported as having won the lead as young Max, but now says that he is yet to get an official offer and that his audition had nothing to do with the lead character.

  It's still too early to tell how all of this will shake out, but we can't imagine a Mad Max movie without Mel — even if he's only there to provide flashbacks.

  
  

  Posted 12/31/2009 by Jim

  Related: Mel Gibson | George Miller | Charlize Theron | Tom Hardy | Fury Road

Friday, October 30

• Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy Will Star in Mad Max 4

  

  Variety writes that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy have been confirmed for Mad Max 4 (also titled Fury Road). Writer/director George Miller helmed the first three installments between 1979 and 1985 and has already finished a script for the fourth, which will begin filming next August in Australia.

  The first Mad Max helped launch the career of Mel Gibson, who went on to star in the two sequels (and of course a slew of other blockbusters). Its story involves a cop living in post-apocalyptic Australia who takes the law into his own hands after his family and friends are killed. The sequels, however, have little to do with the first movie, and the series' continuity is more or less non-existent.

  
  
  

  Mad Max - Trailer

  Mel Gibson is a cop who plays by his own rules.

  Posted 10/30/2009 by Rich Z

  Related: Mel Gibson | George Miller | Charlize Theron | Tom Hardy | Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome | Mad Max | Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Friday, October 16

• New Edge of Darkness Trailer

  Director Martin Campbell's (Casino Royale) latest film, Edge of Darkness, marks the return of Mel Gibson as a leading man, his first such performance since M. Night Shyamalan's Signs in 2002.

  Based on Campbell's BBC mini-series of the same name, Darkness tells the story of veteran policeman Thomas Craven (Gibson), who obsessively investigates the shooting death of his daughter on their front steps. In the process, he uncovers far more than he bargained for.

  Edge of Darkness was written for the screen by Academy Award-winner William Monahan (The Departed) and also stars Ray Winstone and Danny Huston.

  
  
  Next Showing: Edge of Darkness opens January 29, 2010

  Posted 10/16/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Danny Huston | Mel Gibson | Ray Winstone | William Monahan | Martin Campbell | Edge of Darkness | Edge of Darkness

Wednesday, July 15

• Toxic Soup for You! 10 Movie Sequels We'd Like to See with Seinfeld Characters

  

  It's been 20 years this month since Seinfeld first hit the airwaves, and we still miss seeing our favorite characters in new predicaments. Given the number of movie remakes and sequels Hollywood's been cranking out as of late, it got us to thinking: What movies would we like to see recast with Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer, or another member of their motley social circle? Here are 10 movie-reboot ideas we offer up to the remake gods.

  
  

  Posted 07/15/2009 by reelz

  Related: Mel Gibson | Larry David | Jerry Seinfeld | Jason Alexander | Michael Richards | Wayne Knight | Julia Louis-Dreyfus | A Few Good Men | My Best Friend's Wedding | Julie & Julia | Grumpy Old Men | The Godfather | Love Story | A League of Their Own | Braveheart | The English Patient | The Silence of the Lambs

Monday, October 13

• Gibson Won't Mimic Stallone, Nixes Lethal Weapon 5

  Give Mel Gibson some credit: He may be nuttier than a fruitcake, but at least he still has his dignity. Director Richard Donner confirmed to the Los Angeles Times today that the Braveheart Oscar winner and owner of Malibu has opted against starring in a proposed fifth chapter of Lethal Weapon -- a move that signals, as Donner puts it, that the project is now "dead in the water."

  Gibson's decision bucks the recent trend, established by fellow aging action stars Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford, of going back to the well and resurrecting long-dormant franchises like Rambo and Indiana Jones in the hopes of staying relevant. Lethal Weapon 5 had been gathering steam of late thanks to the efforts of writer/director Shane Black, who penned the first Lethal Weapon and had hoped to write and direct the proposed re-boot.

  
  

  Posted 10/13/2008 by reelz

  Related: Mel Gibson | Richard Donner | Shane Black | Lethal Weapon

Monday, July 16

• Super-agent Ed Limato to leave ICM

  Co-President of ICM (International Creative Management) Ed Limato announced Friday that he will be parting ways with the agency, reports Variety. Why does this matter to movie fans?

  Well, it's simple: Limato represents such Hollywood power players as Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, Liam Neeson, Richard Gere, Billy Crystal and Steve Martin. And whither he goes, they shall follow.

  The trouble, of course, is that Limato is held to a non-compete agreement, which prevents him from taking his clients with him should he choose to part ways with the agency. He will likely contest the agreement.

  We'll be sure to keep you posted. After all, the future of Apocalypto II and City Slickers XVI may hang in the balance!

  
  

  Posted 07/16/2007 by reelz

  Related: Billy Crystal | Denzel Washington | Liam Neeson | Mel Gibson | Richard Gere | Steve Martin

Friday, March 23

• File Under: "Things We Already Knew."

  This just in: Mel Gibson is nuts. Those paragons of investigative journalism, TMZ.com, are reporting that Gibson erupted again, this time on a college campus while discussing his bloody Mayan epic Apocalypto. Though his obscenity-laced tirade was reportedly devoid of racial epithets and creative insults like "sugartits," it was nonetheless chock full of crazy. Check out the full story for details.

  
  
  

  Apocalypto Trailer

  Mel Gibson's Mayan epic

  Posted 03/23/2007 by reelz

  Related: Mel Gibson | Apocalypto