The next month should prove to be a pivotal one for the future career of the much maligned movie star
Mel Gibson. After suffering an extremely difficult 2010 when his personal problems became way too public (some of which is still on-going), the subsequent and fierce tabloid bashing that followed, the cast protests over
his proposed cameo in The Hangover 2 which saw him dropped and then
the death of his awesome sounding viking movie he was to direct
Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role - Gibson has a very high profile movie opening in May which should test his post-scandal pulling power. Only the second film he's led in nine years is the talking puppet dramedy
The Beaver that is riding on the coat tails of positive reviews out of SXSW and is set to play under the lofty Cannes spotlight in the South of France later this month, before opening in U.S. theatres on May 20th (though it will enjoy a limited release from the 6th). Gibson may yet also appear at the festival alongside his long time friend and director of the movie,
Jodie Foster, a public appearance that perhaps was unthinkable last summer. Despite a few of his film deals having already folded under the media pressure and whether or not an audience comes out to see The Beaver, it's clearly gonna take time for Gibson to be accepted with the public again and it's gonna take the right attitude, the right openness and humility and the right kind of film choices that could see his misdemeanors forgotten more than forgiven. Talking openly with journalist Allison Hope Weiner and printed exclusively at
Deadline is perhaps the first sign of Gibson's press tour apology for his actions and the whole no holds barred interview is definitely worth a read but of course we don't deal with much gossip around here, we are much more invested in his future movies, so we'll just focus on that. And intriguingly, Gibson says a role in another film (The Beaver was complete before last year's scandal) could be on the way, one that would find him as a supporting character and not the leading man...
"Ive already pulled another job and its going to be fun. I dont know if its going to get off the ground, but Im going to go work for Randy Wallace again Hes got this script and hes had it for years. He wrote some book and hes adapted it to a script. And its almost like Alexander Dumas like that swashbuckler kind of stuff... Its total bodice-ripping swashbuckling stuff, but its funny... Its funny and yet its got really good serious undertones too. Randy writes a decent script. And I responded to it right away. I thought this is hilarious.
That book must surely be Wallace's 2005 published
Love and Honor, an adventure and 'fight for your country' tale in the vein of Gibson's
The Patriot that was greenlit by Disney in 2004 but which only looked it was gearing up last fall. G.I. Joe actor
Channing Tatum became attached to lead the movie last fall and a firm offer was out to
Anne Hathaway to co-star but who knows if either talent is still on board, especially as both are locked down for the rest of the year (Tatum on
21 Jump Street, G.I. Joe 2 - Hathaway on
The Dark Knight Rises). In any event this definitely sounds like the kind of material that would be draw Gibson.
Amazon say the novel is;
tale of swashbuckling and derring-do set in late-eighteenth-century Russia. In 1774, the British already realize that they are going to be in trouble if their American colonies revolt and have asked Catherine the Great, czarina of Russia, for 20,000 soldiers to assist in stamping out any resistance in America. In response to this threat to independence, Virginian cavalryman Kieran Selkirk is recruited by crafty spymaster Benjamin Franklin to travel to Russia posing as a British mercenary. Once in St. Petersburg, the plan is for him to offer his services to Catherine in her fight against the rebellious Cossacks, thus gaining her favor (it doesnt hurt that Selkirk is young and handsomesure to draw the czarinas notoriously lusty attentions) and convincing her not to send the soldiers.
Perhaps Wallace and Disney (if the film is still setup there?) will wait before Tatum and Hathaway are free and go-ahead with the movie next year? In any event, let's hope Gibson has turned a corner now and has dozens of performances still left in his tank as we feel he still has so much to give this industry both in front and behind the camera (despite his claims in the interview that he wouldn't care if he never acted again).I mean who doesn't want to see that viking epic somewhere down the road? Let's hope that gets revived. And Love and Honor sounds like the kind of movie we once loved see Gibson starring in. Let's hope it happens.