Mel Gibson will direct the long-brewing fifth Lethal Weapon film.
"The man who directed all the Lethal films, Richard Donner, he was a big guy," Gibson said at an Experience With... event in London. "He was developing the screenplay and he got pretty far along with it. And he said to me one day, ‘Listen kid, if I kick the bucket you will do it.’ And I said: ‘Shut up.’ But he did indeed pass away. But he did ask me to do it and at the time I didn’t say anything. He said it to his wife and to the studio and the producer. So I will be directing the fifth one." It's noted that Gibson will reprise his role as Martin Riggs in addition to helming the project. At the time of this writing, it's unclear if Danny Glover is returning to play Roger Murtaugh.
The Lethal Weapon franchise launched in 1987, with Gibson and Glover starring as buddy cops across four installments. All four films were directed by Richard Donner, who died in July. However, Donner said as recently as December 2020 that he still planned to direct a fifth Lethal Weapon film, which would've been his final project. "This is the final one. It's both my privilege and duty to put it to bed," he said at the time. "It's exciting, actually."
Though Lethal Weapon 5 has been in various stages of development for years, it wasn't until January 2020 that it began to pick up steam. "I'm going to knock on wood, because I don't want to jinx myself, but we're trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie, and Dick Donner's coming back," producer Dan Lin said. "The original cast is coming back, and it's just amazing. The story itself is very personal to him. Mel [Gibson] and Danny [Glover] are ready to go, so it's about the script."
Several months later, Gibson himself was asked if Lethal Weapon 5 was truly happening. "Yeah!" he said. "No, absolutely. And the man who was behind all that, the man who brought it to the screen and gave it its, the goodies, is working on it right now: Richard Donner. He's a legend."
Source: The Sun