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Lethal Weapon |
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Following a spell away from acting, MEL GIBSON returns to the screen in EDGE OF DARKNESS, playing a cop driven to the brink, as he searches for his daughter’s killer. The Hollywood superstar talks about his attraction to this challenging role. |
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Mel, you took a long break from acting prior to Edge of Darkness. Have you gotten the acting bug back?
MEL GIBSON: Well, yeah, I walked away from it after Signs because I just felt I was a bit stale and it wasn’t ringing my bells. So, I focused on directing and writing and producing and all that kind of stuff. And then it was time to come back. Now, I got the acting bug back because I felt like all of a sudden, maybe, after all these years I might have something to offer again. And it coincided with a very good piece of material. So, if it wasn’t this, it would have been something else, but this was the best thing that I saw.
Have you talked to George Miller about making another Mad Max movie?
MEL GIBSON: Yeah, I’ve talked to George. We’ve had a good chin-wag about it. We talk all the time anyway, George and I. So, I’m abreast of that. I know he’s been trying to do this for years, the fourth installment. At one point I was involved, then it fell to bits and then this and that. So now it’s probably gone through a lot of changes. And I can’t wait to see it, because everything he does, I think, is magic. I think there’s a touch of genius, more than a touch of genius, about George. Probably most of any good tricks I’ve ever learned, I’ve learned off that guy and Peter Weir.
What was it like getting in front of the camera again?
MEL GIBSON: I remember [director] Martin Campbell had to tell me to tone it down a couple of times because you forget levels and stuff. It’s sort of like dialing in levels. After that it was pretty natural. I mean, geez, you don’t do something for 30 years and forget it. So, it felt all right. It felt better actually. A wise, old – well, not so wise, not so old – guy told me once, ‘Go away, dig a hole, do something else, come back and it magically rejuvenates your creative impulses and stuff.’ He’s right, I think. And I cannot qualify how, exactly, but I know that something happened. Just nothing better than a vacation sometimes, you know?
Did you watch the original UK production of Edge of Darkness, because your performance recalled Bob Peck’s in some ways...
MEL GIBSON: I watched it back in the ‘80s, avidly. It was some of the best TV I’d ever seen. And British television at that time was great. We’ve all talked about that. But I made a point to not watch it [again] because I didn’t want it to be a part of that, but to just try and be truthful. But, hey, if you’re saying that my performance was anything like what Bob Peck did, I’m flattered. Because I think he was amazing.
How did you approach the execution of the film’s great action moments? How closely did you follow the script?
MEL GIBSON: I think very closely. We tried to do the action accumulatively. There’s not a great deal of action in it, but we designed the action so that rather like a car crash, most violent acts come out of nowhere. They happen in the blink of an eye, and you never quite know exactly what happened. And that was the principle of this, really.
What attracted you to this kind of character and what was most challenging moment for you in this movie?
MEL GIBSON: Well, look, every time you go out there to do something, you wonder if you can do it. There’s no assured success. There’s no secret recipe for success. I mean, every time you go out there, you go out there with a possibility of great failure. And, so, the whole business of putting your wares on display, whether you’re a chef or an opera director or a painter or an actor, a filmmaker, whatever you happen to be, you’re throwing your stuff out there for other people and it’s going to be judged and you’re either going to be excoriated or praised or somewhere in between or both sometimes. And it’s all a challenge. The whole gig is a challenge.
You have often played characters who lost family and are fighting for justice.
MEL GIBSON: I think that that’s a very old theme in a lot of stories. It reminded me of a Jacobean tragedy from the 17th century in almost every way. They were all written by English guys about the Italians. (Laughs) It was really weird. In the 17th century, man, those Italians are really vengeful. But it was all the Brits doing, you know? (Laughs) They’re all talking about the other guy. So, that’s what it reminded me of, where everybody gets it, even the dog. (Laughs) So, I don’t know, it’s an old theme. And it’s part of most hero myths. Something sets the spheres awry and somebody has to right it.
In addition to a long acting career, how did you learn to direct? And now how can you dial back and take direction?
MEL GIBSON: How do you learn to direct? I mean, you hang around the hub and watch what’s going on and ask a bunch of questions and then you’re there for the inception of an idea. You’re there to see it executed. You’re there to doubt it. You’re there to see if they pull it off or not and you’re there to sort of share the fruits of victory or failure. It’s like a big science experiment for 30 years, so how can you not pick it up? And if you’re working with really good people, that’s just great.
You’ve had such a great and accomplished career. What’s left that you’d like to accomplish?
MEL GIBSON: Hey, I’m working on a Viking movie. (Laughs) And you want to hear the very first idea I ever had about making a film? My first thought about ever being a filmmaker was when I was 16 years old and I wanted to make a Viking movie. I wanted to make it in Old Norse, which I was studying at the time. Okay? And it’s odd because at that age you’re like, ‘Well, that’s a stupidly ridiculous idea. How will I ever be a filmmaker?’ And ‘It’s just some kind of romantic pipedream.’ But that was the first big, epic, wacky idea I ever had.
Does that mean that the Viking movie will be in English or in Old Norse?
MEL GIBSON: I think it’s going to be in English – the English that would have been spoken back then – and Old Norse. Now, whatever the ninth century had to offer, I’m going to give you a real man. I want a Viking to scare you. I don’t want a Viking to say, ‘I’m going to die with this sword in my hand.’ I don’t want to hear that. (Laughs) It pulls the rug out from under. I want to see somebody who I’ve never seen before speaking low, guttural German, who scares me, coming up to my house, okay? What is that like? What would that have been like?
Do you like history?
MEL GIBSON: Oh, I love it, yeah. And I like trying to imagine what it was like, especially when we don’t have a clear picture on what it was, try to imagine what it was like. Maybe romanticise it, make it compelling for film, maybe even push it a little over the top. You know, it’s just a question of choices.
Was there a point during your time off from acting where you considered not coming back to it?
MEL GIBSON: Yeah, of course. Probably further toward the beginning, and then as time went on you think, ‘Aw, maybe I should try that again.’ You just don’t know. That’s why I didn’t make some big pronouncement of ‘I’m quitting. I’m retiring.’ I didn’t want to do that. But I just thought I’d back away for a while.
Is that because you were discouraged or just tired?
MEL GIBSON: Just tired and bored with it. I’ve done that a couple of times. I just walked away and spent a year not doing it or doing something else. And I think it’s a natural thing, as soon as something starts getting a little tedious and you want to sort of spice it up again, you kind of have to change it somehow.
Did you learn anything exciting while you were away from the industry, about yourself, about life in general?
MEL GIBSON: Well, I didn’t really get away from the industry. I learned a lot about the industry. I learned about writing; I learned about conceiving – from conception to writing to bringing that to the screen to mounting a film to producing it to directing it to actually singlehandedly marketing and distributing and doing everything except exhibition. And I think I did it, you know? So, it’s kind of almost the full thing. Now I bought a bunch of theaters in Australia called the Dendy chain, so I’m an exhibitor as well.
Discover Edge of Darkness on DVD and Blu-ray at JB Hi-Fi » |
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