Lethal Weapon 5: Mel Gibson reveals why the long-awaited sequel is still delayed

Actor Mel Gibson has shared an update on the longawaited fifth installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise revealing that the script is complete but the film remains stuck in development due to studiorelated issues Deadline reportedGibson said the fifth film would feature older versions of the franchises central characters with one retired and the other working a desk jobThe characters are quite different Theyre older Ones retired The other ones on a desk job Hes putting on too much weight and its lowtech Gibson said Deadline reportedHe explained that unlike the earlier films the new installment would not rely heavily on largescale explosions and elaborate action sequences but would still retain the energy of an action movieIt doesnt get into the big explosions and all this sort of stuff But it still has the energy and I think drive of a big action film he said Deadline reportedGibson added that the film would only make minimal references to the previous installments and would largely work as a standalone storyIts a story all on its own he saidDescribing the action Gibson said the movie would include a foot chase designed to feel like a car chase while keeping the action simpler and placing greater emphasis on the characters Deadline reportedIts a foot chase right But its kind of filmed like a car chase So it still has all the elements of what was in the other films but not nearly so complicated But it deals more about the people in it he saidGibson also confirmed that he would absolutely want to direct the film a responsibility he said the franchises original director Richard Donner had wanted him to take onDonner God rest his soul he said to me in this deep voice he said Hey kid if I drop off the perch youll take this over wont you I said Shut up Youre not going anywhere And of course he did Gibson recalledHe said that after Donners death others reminded him of the directors wishes and encouraged him to take over the projectAnd you know when he passed away I didnt say anything But apparently he had told other people that too so they all came to me and said You direct it I said Yeah okay Gibson saidGibson revealed that Donner had been working on the fifth films script before his death and that he later worked with writer Richard Wenk to complete it Deadline reportedDonner when he was 90 years old was working on the fifth and of course he passed away in the middle So I got together with the writer and we completed it thinking What would Donner do Thats what we were thinking in the room Gibson saidThe actor expressed strong confidence in the completed screenplay saying I think that the fifth script is better than all of the othersHowever Gibson said the project has remained stalled because of studiorelated complicationsRichard Wenk and I finished the script and we were going to go into production but it just never got the wheels under it he saidGibson said the project became caught up in what he described as industrial film hell adding that changes involving Warner Bros may potentially give the film a new opportunityI think Warners got into some quicksand at that time so it got buried somewhere and now I think this David Ellison guy over at Paramount has absorbed or will absorb Warners or it looks like he will And maybe maybe theyll take the chains off that one and you might see that in another year or so he saidLethal Weapon released in 1987 was directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black The action thriller starred Gibson as Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger MurtaughThe success of the film led to three sequels Lethal Weapon 2 in 1989 Lethal Weapon 3 in 1992 and Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998The franchise was later adapted into a television series starring Clayne Crawford as Martin Riggs and Damon Wayans as Roger Murtaugh The series premiered on Fox in 2016 and ran for three seasons Deadline reportedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever