'Funny, You Don’t Look Jewish’: 7 Mel Gibson Revelations from the Get the Gringo Premiere

Will we see another Lethal Weapon movie?
“Maybe,” he answered. “I don’t know who’s going to make it or be in it or anything… I’d like to see one, with someone else.”

While Gibson has no information about a new Lethal Weapon being made with or without his involvement, he lent his support to George Miller’s planned Mad Max reboot. “They’re doing one of those Mad Max movies with a very good actor, a young fella called Tom Hardy, and I met Tom and he’s cool. Best of luck to them.”

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Why opt to release Get the Gringo via Direct TV?
Gibson, who produced Get the Gringo in addition to co-writing and starring in it, offered some explanation to why Direct TV was a reasonable release platform. “We’re just in a different era. Many people like to see this stuff in their homes, you don’t have to go through the rigmarole of prints. Even the filmmaking process itself is becoming digital, and I like that better. I use a RED camera over a Panavision. It’s just another way to do it, and I think a better way to do it, and I think it’s the future.”

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Five Chinese guys get arrested in Mexico… On the real life Mexican prison experiment that inspired the compact, bustling prison-city in the film.
I winced as Gibson started to tell an incredible true story about the Tijuana prison called “El Pueblito” that inspired the film’s setting: “Five chinese guys got arrested trying to smuggle a hay bale full of marijuana out of Mexico," he began. "They got thrown into El Pueblito, in four weeks they had a restaurant up and running inside the place. And people used to come from the outside to eat in there.”

False alarm! Nothing terribly cringe-worthy here. Carry on.

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Will Gibson make an appearance in Machete 2?
“I was just talking to Robert Rodriguez upstairs,” admitted Gibson, who called the Austin-based filmmaker a “nice guy.” Although he wouldn’t confirm his involvement in Rodriguez’s Machete sequel, Gibson’s enthusiasm suggested the possibility was strong. “We were talking about this. It sounds fun.”

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On directing advice from Clint Eastwood:
Gibson, who does a decent raspy Eastwood impression, spoke of his longstanding friendship with the filmmaker. “I called Clint up – I’ve known him for years –when I was doing my first directing job. I said, ‘Clint’ – because he’s Clint, the tall one, who’s not scared of anything – I said, ‘Clint, I’m terrified.’ And he said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He’s just always on the phone, he’s like Deep Throat or something.‘Don’t worry about it. Just say ‘action’ and ‘cut.’”

And: “After about five minutes of conversation he’s just a regular 14-year-old like the rest of us. He’s a funny dude.”

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But what about that Leo DiCaprio Viking movie he’s been trying to make -- the movie Leo supposedly dropped out of after Gibson's meltdown?
Gibson and Braveheart scripter Randall Wallace recently completed and turned in a third draft of the Viking movie that was once set to star Leonardo DiCaprio. “It’s phenomenal. I can’t wait to get my claws on it.”

But while the Get the Gringo press notes still make reference to DiCaprio’s involvement, Gibson conspicuously avoided any mention of his one-time star. “There are a lot of faces and people going through my mind that may or may not be available,” he said of possible replacements. “But I’m not averse to finding other [unknown] people, too. It’s about who’s right for the part.”

Also mysterious: Gibson says the plan is to make his Viking movie in English… “but it’s not going to be the kind of English that you’re used to.”

That said, the project is still in its early stages. “We just finished it literally and handed it over to some guys that are looking at it. I don’t even know if I’ve got a greenie yet.”

Get the Gringo debuts on Direct TV on May 1.

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