Soon after the death of director Richard Donner, it was announced that Mel Gibson would be taking over directorial duties on a fifth and final entry in the long running Lethal Weapon franchise. The oft rumored sequel has been in some form of development for years now with news of a new movie hitting every few months or so. But it seemed that it was all confirmed roughly a year ago when Gibson said he was fully on board as director and that Danny Glover would also be returning in a starring role. Despite Gibson's personal problems and offensive rants, he's somehow continued to work in Hollywood and has directed several high profile films in the last few years. And he's apparently all wrapped up in making some finishing touches before WB allows Lethal Weapon 5 to start shooting.
When speaking with JoBlo, he had this to say about the project:
“It’s in the works, you know? It’s one of those things whereby it’s a no-brainer if you ask me. I’ve worked on the screenplay, which, of course, was started by Donner (the late Richard Donner)…and of course, he and a guy had a pretty good template going. Donner, of course, passed away. And then I sat in and we kind of finished up the script and I had a blast working with Richard Wenk- the writer. You know, it’s a pretty good document. I dig it a lot. I think what’s held it up is that at Warners, they’re changing hats over there…you know…this guy got fired, and this guy took over and Discovery and all that stuff. You get lost in the shuffle sometimes as they try and regroup and sort themselves out. It’ll come. I’m not quite sure when but it’ll happen.”
It sounds like things are moving ahead but just not at the pace we'd all like. Hopefully it happens before they're REALLY too old for this shit.
-CG