News Analysis India

Tag: Mel Gibson

  • Mel Gibson to direct fifth installment of ‘Lethal Weapon’ series

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Veteran actor-filmmaker Mel Gibson is in talks to direct the fifth installment in Warner Bros’ “Lethal Weapon” movie franchise. The project was put on hold after director Richard Donner, who had helmed all the “Lethal Weapon” movies since the film series’ inception in 1987, died in July.

    Donner (91) was working on the fifth installment, which has been in development on and off for years. Richard Wenk, who wrote the Denzel Washington-led “Equalizer” thriller movies, wrote the latest draft. According to Deadline, during an event in London over the weekend, Gibson let it slip that he was planning to take over the directing duties from Donner.

    Dan Lin of Rideback will produce the film with Shuler Donner and Gibson. Rideback’s Jonathan Eirich and The Donners’ Company’s Derek Hoffman will executive produce. The film would be developed for Warner’s streaming platform HBO Max.

    The first “Lethal Weapon” movie came out in 1987, featuring Gibson as Los Angeles Police Department detective Martin Riggs opposite Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh. The film was huge success and was followed by three sequels as well as a prequel TV series that ran from 2016-2019 with Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans as a young Gibson and Glover.

  • Mel Gibson to star in ‘John Wick’ prequel series ‘The Continental’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Veteran actor Mel Gisbon has been roped in to play a pivotal role in the “John Wick” prequel series “The Continental” for Starz and Lionsgate Television. The show, originally ordered in 2018, focuses on the inner workings of the titular hotel from the film franchise, which is a refuge for assassins.

    It will explore the origin behind the hotel-for-assassins through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, who is dragged into the Hell-scape of a 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.

    “Winston charts a deadly course through the New York’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the iconic hotel, which serves as the meeting point for the world’s most dangerous criminals,” the plotline reads.

    According to Deadline, Gibson will play a new character named Cormac, though no further details are available about his role. “The Continental” will be a three-night event series but no premiere date is currently set.

    Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward are writing the series and will serve as showrunners as well as executive producers. Chad Stahelski, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch, Shawn Simmons, Paul Wernick, and Rhett Reese are all executive producing along with Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road Pictures.

    “The Continental” will be the first series based on the Keanu Reeves-led “John Wick” film trilogy, which has has grossed almost USD 600 million worldwide. All the three films have been scripted by Kolstad and directed by Stahelski.

    They are currently filming “John Wick: Chapter Four” with Reeves reprising his assassin character. Actor Ian McShane plays the older version of Winston in the movies.

  • Mel Gibson to star in thriller ‘Hot Seat’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood veteran Mel Gibson will be playing the lead role in upcoming thriller movie “Hot Seat”.

    According to Deadline, the 65-year-old actor will also produce the feature film which will be directed by James Cullen Bressack.

    “Hot Seat” follows an ex-hacker who is forced to break into high-level banking institutions by an anonymous man who planted a bomb under his chair at his office.

    Gibson plays the man who must try to penetrate the booby-trapped building to get the young man off the hot seat.

    The film is based on a story by Leon Langford and Collin Watts.

    “Hot Seat” will be produced by Randall Emmett and George Furla along with Bressack.