Mel Gibson Not Interested in Lethal Weapon 5

Joel Silver was excited, Shane Black was excited, and last week Columbus Short was pretty excited too about the possibility of a fifth Lethal Weapon. Unfortunately for them, the franchise’s golden boy, Mel Gibson, just isn’t interested in returning for another flick.

The L.A. Times recently spoke with Richard Donner, director of the first four movies in the popular series, who had this to say regarding Gibson’s involvement:

“Mel turned it down,” Donner said. “I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn’t involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be.”

“It’s too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, and myself and Derek [Hoffman, an associate at The Donner Company] had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren’t given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with Joel Silver.”

Shane Black’s script featured a homicidal Riggs (Gibson) about to retire, but pulls Murtaugh (Danny Glover) out of retirement to solve one final case, before they both officially head off into the sunset. Apparently it also introduced a couple of younger detectives.

I’m a little surprised that Gibson turned it down. His career isn’t exactly in the best shape right now and a fifth Lethal Weapon probably could have changed that. Oh well.