Mel Gibson Rules Out Lethal Weapon 5 10/14/08

Mel Gibson has turned down the chance to star in another Lethal Weapon movie - destroying hopes for a fifth film in the franchise.

Bosses at movie giant Warners Bros were confident of convincing Gibson and co-star Danny Glover to reprise their roles in the popular action series, ten years after the last Lethal Weapon movie.

But Richard Donner, who directed the first four films in the franchise, insists the Braveheart actor snubbed the offer to reprise his role as unhinged cop Martin Riggs.

He says, "Mel turned it down. I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be.

"It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with (producer) Joel Silver... the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."