Mel Gibson's Career

Taking a look at Mel Gibson's career, past and present, and speculating over whether or not Gibson will be doing a comeback in 2015

Mel Gibson Back in his Hay Day
source: it.wikipedia.org

Career Overview

Mel Gibson is an ex-Hollywood hotshot, having been one of the highest paid actors throughout the 90’s, taking home a paycheque of between $10-20 million per film. Mel Gibson was also Hollywood’s hottest actor throughout the 80’s and 90’s, being adored by women for his looks and on-screen charm and adored by men for his screen presence and versatile acting talent.

However, throughout the 2000’s Gibson took some time away from his acting career to pursue a career as a film director, having seen success with The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Apocalypto (2006). But this was the end of the lucky road that Gibson has been on for so long, as Gibson’s personal life was falling apart at the scenes as his wife left him, Gibson taking the divorce badly went out and said some unsavoury things to a police officer which was recorded and leaked to the public. If this wasn’t damaging enough to the crumbling actors career, he was also accused of beating his new girlfriend, backed by evidence of a drunk Mel Gibson phoning the battered girlfriend saying yet again, more unsavoury words. To sum up, Gibson’s career has taken a stumble from the top shelf, to the lonely floor as Gibson’s large fan-base has near diminished because of his personal life, having shown that he may not be the perfect man that we see in his academy award winning, box office hit movies.

Surprisingly, Gibson is still landing roles in movies as we sit comfortably in the mid 2010’s, but there is little chances of Mel Gibson doing a major comeback anytime soon, based on the slander that has been train-wrecking his career throughout the media talk of Gibson being a woman-beater, a racist, an alcoholic, and a plain unsettling character.

Gibson’s Defence

All being said, Mel Gibson still has the support of his close celebrity friends, with the likes of Jodie Foster and Danny Glover, all of which say that Gibson is a good man, through and through, backing him 100% saying that in his right mind he would never say any of the things that he has been recorded saying in the past. As a matter of fact, almost all of the previous co-stars and co-workers that Gibson has worked with in the past in his movies have stated that Gibson was always kind and thoughtful on-set, being the actor that everyone loved to work with.

Gibson’s History

Mel Gibson has been a major Hollywood star in the movies since he landed the role as Max in the 1979 production of Mad Max. Gibson has admitted to being an alcoholic his early career as an actor, struggling with the addiction, but as he has stated in the past, he has always found a way to keep the addiction under control; however, with all addictions they are a lifelong struggle.

Throughout the 80’s Gibson starred in such hit movies as Lethal Weapon (1987) and Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), being the series that Gibson is best known for throughout his career, as Gibson plays a handsome cop who finds himself and his partner getting into some pretty difficult and dangerous cases.

The 90’s were arguably Gibson’s best decade for his acting career, as he continues on doing the final two Lethal Weapon movies in the series; Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). Not to forget the timeless classics like Braveheart (1995), which both starred Gibson (as the leading role) and saw Gibson direct, and Payback (1999).

Leading onto the 2000’s, with Gibson’s acting career still going strong, as Gibson is still demanding a fee of $10-20 million for all of the movies that he starred in. Plus, it was in the early 2000’s when Gibson starred in one of his greatest movies to-date, that being The Patriot (2000), which sees Gibson star alongside Heath ledger. Moving swiftly onto one of Gibson’s strangest, but most memorable roles in the psychological thriller Signs (2002), starring alongside Joaquin Phoenix and being directed by M. Night Shyamalan. However, it is at this stage when Gibson makes the decision of stepping away from acting to re-pursue film directing, mostly due to the advise that Gibson received from Shyamalan on the set of the making of Signs. Gibson directed The Passion of the Christ (2004), but due to conflicts over the religious grounds of the movie, Gibson couldn’t get a studio to produce the film so Gibson had to fund the movie himself, although, thankfully this was the best financial decision that he could have made. Gibson produced the film, meaning that he was entitled to 50% of the movies overall gross, which meant Gibson would take home $600 million for his efforts on the project. Gibson’s next motion picture directorial project was another box office success, being Apocalypto (2006), which made  $120 million at the worldwide box office off a $40 million budget.

The 2010’s was where all of the problems begin to emerge for the once shining actor, as Gibson’s first acting role since 2005 in Edge of Darkness (2010) was a disaster at the box office, having grossed $81 million worldwide off a $80 million, meaning that the movie more than likely lost money, as the production budget does not include marketing expenses. Then, a year later, an even greater disaster emerges with Jodie Foster’s’ The Beaver (2011), starring Mel Gibson as the leading man, but the picture only grossed $6 million worldwide off a $21 million budget. Hopes now full upon Gibson’s upcoming release, Blood Father, a revenge thriller, which is due out for release at some point in 2015.

Gibson’s Potential 2015 Comeback

Could 2015 be the year that Mel Gibson does a comeback with his acting career? Doubtful, based on the failures of Gibson’s previous ventures into movies over the past few years, however, revenge thrillers have proven to be popular thanks to Liam Neeson’s powerful performances in the sub-genre.

Has Gibson still got the appeal that he once had? Again, doubtful, based purely on the evidence of the failures that Gibson has had with his previous projects, but then again, maybe Gibson’s fan-base is quietly waiting for the right movie to watch him in. One can only hope.

What are your thoughts on Mel Gibson’s career? Do you think that Mel Gibson is going to do a major comeback in 2015, revitalising his acting career? Let us know in the comments box below.