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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mel comeback clouded by controversy

Glenn Whipp Associated Press

The last time Mel Gibson starred in a movie, he was grappling with alien invaders and a misplaced faith in the sci-fi thriller “Signs.”

That was seven and a half years ago. In the intervening time, he became a cultural firebrand, directing the controversial 2004 box-office hit “The Passion of the Christ” and the violent 2006 action epic, “Apocalypto.”

Gibson also became a cultural pariah in July 2006 when, after being pulled over in Malibu for speeding and driving under the influence, he made obscene, anti-Semitic remarks to the arresting officer.

He largely disappeared after the incident, but returns to theaters today with a new movie, “Edge of Darkness,” a thriller about a Boston police detective seeking revenge for the murder of his 24-year-old daughter.

The movie is similar in tone to past blood-drenched Gibson films such as “Ransom” and the “Lethal Weapon” franchise.

“It was time,” says Gibson, 54. “I felt like getting back in the saddle.

Hollywood.com box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian believes Gibson picked the right movie for his comeback.

“In revenge roles, Mel Gibson has few peers,” Dergarabedian says. “If you’ve been away for awhile, it’s smart to go back to what people are comfortable seeing you do.”

Some, though, question whether Gibson’s public standing hasn’t been permanently damaged.

“I think that drunk-driving tirade confirmed a lot of people’s suspicions about the kind of person Mel Gibson is,” says Matthew Traub, managing director at Dan Klores Communications, who specializes in crisis management public relations.

Gibson defiantly rejects the notion that he’s damaged goods.

“It’s 30 years ago that I lost my own personal anonymity,” he says. “And it’s 30 years ago that the public humiliation began. And sometimes it reaches a global level. And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

There’s no doubting that people are still happy to make movies with him.

Gibson just completed filming the offbeat comedy, “The Beaver,” directed by longtime friend Jodie Foster, who plays his wife. He has written and will star in a prison drama, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”

And he plans to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a Viking epic that will employ Old Norse dialogue, a movie Gibson says will “put the V in Viking.”

Says film historian David Thomson: “Gibson’s not a tidy person. There’s an authenticity to the unhinged characters he plays that sets him apart.

“Whether you like him or not, there’s a daring there that makes him compelling.”