Mel Gibson broke into the industry after the Australian B-movie Mad Max landed big with wider audiences. From here, he truly became a household name when Lethal Weapon hit movie theaters in 1987. The action-packed movie kickstarted a buddy cop craze in cinema and spawned three sequels. In 1996, he won two Oscars for his epic historical film Braveheart.
However, in the later years of Gibson’s career, he faced personal troubles that leaked into mainstream news. After going off the radar for a while, he returned and is now active in both TV and film. In January 2025, Gibson sat down with Joe Rogan on his famed podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Throughout the 2-hour conversation, Gibson lifted the lid on his career, faith, and future projects. Here are some key takeaways from the conversation.
Mel Gibson Turned Down Martin Scorsese
Long before he directed The Passion of the Christ, one of the most succesful R-rated movies of all time, Mel Gibson was offered to enter that realm by Martin Scorsese. Gibson described how when he was shooting a movie in England, he was put up in the Savoy hotel, where Martin Scorsese happened to be staying as well. Gibson was suffering a bad case of food poisoning and was confined to his room, however, Scorsese requested to see him and he obliged. Gibson relayed the meeting, saying: “While I was there, Scorsese calls the room and says, ‘Come here, I want to talk to you.’ I go and I talk to Martin and he’s in his room and all the windows, the screens, he’s drawn on. He’s got 18 different TVs going on at the same time in this dark room. He’s talking to me about ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ and he wants me to play Jesus and I said, ‘Wow. I’m not doing that.’”
Gibson didn’t go into detail on why he turned down the role. This was in the early 80s when he was just starting to climb the Hollywood ladder, and Scorsese was an Oscar-nominated filmmaker with massive triumphs like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull under his belt. So, he must have had his reasons, and they most likely weren’t because of lack of faith as he would go on to direct The Passion of the Christ in 2004. Eventually, the role of Jesus in Scorsese’s movie would go to Willem Dafoe, and Jim Caviezel took on the role in Gibson’s picture.
He Had a Wild Confrontation in Los Angeles
Mel Gibson became known for portraying wild characters like that of Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series. Riggs was explosive, dangerous, and unpredictable, however, he had a heart of gold underneath. This is what made the character so captivating to watch as his intricate layers unraveled throughout each picture. In the real world, Gibson was known for having a bit of a temper in his early days. He has openly admitted that when he was younger he would often get into brawls. In fact, he landed the part of the titular character in the Mad Max movies after casting agents became fascinated by his beaten up face after a fight with a rugby team. Yet, when you are in the public eye, you can’t really conduct yourself like this.
When sitting down with Joe Rogan, Gibson explained how he has been in a few hairy situations since becoming famous but simply acts crazy to get out of it. Rogan asked him to explain further and he relayed an incident that happened on the outskirts of LA in the early 90s. On the way to a meeting, he took a wrong turn and got lost. To make matters worse, his muffler fell off his car. When he pulled over, he suddenly found himself surrounded as people began coming out of their houses and approaching the car. Gibson said: “I saw them coming in the rearview mirror and I jumped out of the car and got in their face and I said ‘what the f*** do you want’ because I felt threatened.” Gibson managed to fix the car and gave the people some spare cash and drove off before things escalated.
How He Plans to Follow ‘The Passion of the Christ’
Following the monumental success of The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson has kept the flames of anticipation alive with tantalizing hints about a sequel for years. Now, after much speculation, The Resurrection of the Christ is officially entering pre-production, promising to take audiences on a profound spiritual journey focused on the events that unfolded three days after the crucifixion. When appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, Gibson revealed that Jim Caviezel would reprise his role as Jesus, despite the fact that two decades have passed since the original film’s release. Acknowledging the challenge of maintaining continuity with the character, Gibson mentioned the importance of employing innovative film techniques, specifically referring to the advancements in de-aging technology that have made waves in the industry, particularly since Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in 2019.
Gibson also gave some insight into the themes that the movie will explore. He said: “To really tell the story properly, you have to start with the fall of the angels, right? Which is another place. You’re in another realm.” Rogan then asked “So, you’re gonna have hell, you’re gonna have Satan, all that?” Gibson simply responded “Yeah.” As of writing, The Resurrection of the Christ is slated for a 2026 release and will be split into two parts.
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