Hollywood actor Mel Gibson has admitted that he’s past his Lethal Weapon prime. Mel, whose latest feature We Were Soldiers opens in the US on Friday, told the New York Post he’d never consider doing a fifth instalment of his highly successful Lethal Weapon series. Says Mel: “You need Brad Pitt at his prime-time butt-kicking best. And I’m past that now.”
Having tackled the English Army to Oscar-winning effect in 1995’s Braveheart and then again five years later in The Patriot, Mel now takes on a re-enactment of one of the earliest battles involving US troops in the Vietnam War. And to prepare for his role for We Were Soldiers, the rugged actor - along with co-stars Sam Elliot and Greg Kinnear - had to go through a strenuous military basic training programme.
“I felt like the old guy in the pack,” the 46-year-old actor said of the experience. “All the other guys were beating the hell out of me on the obstacle course. I was tripping and flailing and then they made us crawl under real barbed wire while they shot live ammo over the top of us. Frankly, I’d rather have been doing other things.”
We Were Soldiers opens in UK cinemas on March 8.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
