Mel Gibson Must ‘Sing for His Supper’ to Make ‘Lethal Weapon 5’: ‘Wants to Direct’ It Himself

Mel Gibson is raving about the Lethal Weapon 5 script and promising it’ll be a huge success when it finally gets the green light – but there’s plenty of challenges and drama behind the scenes that has others concerned it’s destined instead to be a long-awaited disappointment, a source exclusively tells Closer. 

“The best thing to happen for Lethal Weapon 5‘s prospects has been the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice this fall, which showed Warner Bros. that there’s a huge market for legacy sequels, as long as you get the core elements right and bring back the key cast members in the beloved roles,” says a longtime insider close to the dormant franchise and its filmmakers.

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However, there are complications in doing just that: “Lethal Weapon is still an incredibly tricky property to get right,” the source explains. There are a number of things that absolutely need to happen, and if any of them don’t fall perfectly into place, it’s unlikely the fifth installment will go ahead, not to mention that “the fourth film, which was released 25 years ago, is everybody’s least favorite in the series.” 

For starters, “You also have a large mix of actors and characters to make deals with, starting with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, who are absolutely essential to the fifth movie getting made.” But there are problems surrounding the two leads, too. “The other issue is, Danny Glover is 78. This really is a do or die moment for this project because Danny wants to make this movie too, but he wants to do it before he’s eighty,” the insider says.

While Mel is only pushing 70, he’s faced his share of backlash in the industry and only really resurfaced as a bankable leading man and filmmaker in the last decade. While the source says Mel would, without a doubt, be on board as he’s excited for the fifth installment, “Because the original Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner has passed, Mel wants to direct the movie himself.” This is yet another hurdle for anyone hoping to get the movie made, as “he also hasn’t made that deal yet either.” 

“There’s just a mountain of paperwork to get this thing to the starting line, and a lot of deals yet to be made,” the insider adds. “To Mel’s credit, he isn’t pinning all of his hopes on this project and has his next film as a director, next year’s Flight Risk, ready for release and still plans to make a sequel to his massive hit The Passion of the Christ.” 

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“He has to fit Lethal Weapon into his busy schedule and that has to happen sooner rather than later. Warner Bros. is going to feel a lot more secure about green-lighting this movie with Mel as a director if Flight Risk performs well, and that is Mel’s focus right now – proving that he still has the magic touch when it comes to gritty, male-driven action.” 

“It’s a little sad that Mel still has to sing for his supper so deep into his career, but Lethal Weapon 5 is going to be an expensive film and the studio doesn’t want to leave anything to chance!”