Mel Gibson Turned Down Marvel Superhero Role, But He Needs To Be Uncle Ben In ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’
Mel Gibson has revealed that he was approached by Marvel to play Thor’s dad Odin in the origin story for the superhero, but he turned them down.
The Australian actor made this admission to The Guardian while he was the Cannes Film Festival for Blood Father, which he stars in and has been directed by Francois Richet.
During the interview, Gibson was asked whether he has been approached to play a superhero role, to which he succinctly responded, “Yeah, long time ago, to play Thor’s dad. But I didn’t do it.”
Mel Gibson: ‘Some guy let me tattoo him. I drew squiggles’ https://t.co/BbyCFhV4tK
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 26, 2016
The role of Odin ultimately went to Sir Anthony Hopkins, and the Oscar-winning actor has made it his own, as he’s been absolutely stellar as the ruler as Asgard. Especially since it’s a particularly small role, and the Welsh actor has managed to make an impact despite a lack of screen time.
This isn’t the first time that Marvel have been linked with using Mel Gibson as part of the cinematic universe. Around the release of Iron Man 3 it was put to Robert Downey, Jr. by Deadline that since Marvel really wants Iron Man 4 he should only agree to do it if Mel Gibson directs it, which then led the actor to respond with simply, “Correct.” RDJ then added, “That movie would be bananas.”
Despite rejecting the role of Odin in Thor, Mel Gibson admitted that he still has a soft spot for the comic-book genre. During the same interview, Gibson couldn’t help but admit that “some are good” before admitting that Guardians Of The Galaxy and Iron Man were “kind of funny.”
Gibson then added, “Some of them are just like retreats. I mean you can watch them do Spider-Man five times.” Maybe Gibson is just making these comments to try and get in good with Marvel Studios so that he can get a specific role within the Cinematic Universe.
In fact, looking at his comments and his praise for Spider-Man, a character that Tom Holland made his debut as earlier this month in Captain America: Civil War and is set to be rebooted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe next year with Spider-Man: Homecoming, fans are guessing that Gibson wants to land the role of Uncle Ben.
Gibson wasn’t done critiquing the modern cinematic landscape, as he went on to add that he’s a little bit disappointed with the current output. Especially when it comes to mainstream films, which Gibson believes are all way too similar.
Mel Gibson Turned Down A Role In Marvel’s Thor: It looks as though ‘Thor’ could have once starred Mel Gibson. https://t.co/81NXZ1bcxh
— Cinema Zone (@cinemazone) May 26, 2016
“There is a slight shift in film,” Mel Gibson explained. “But, then again, I think all films are suffering from people not being able to now open them with their name. It’s a different kind of business these days… I think you need to get more variety of stories, films and performances. You had more of a chance of a profound film experience. But that’s gone. I think that has been relegated to the independent world — but they have to do it twice as fast for half the money.”
The thing is, Mel Gibson’s telling the truth. But while it would be easy to blame Hollywood for the lack of originality in cinemas, every time that a new, original film is released audiences don’t go and see it. Just look at The Nice Guys, which was coincidentally written by Lethal Weapon’s Shane Black, the man who created Lethal Weapon and wrote and directed Iron Man 3. Despite rave reviews, it has so far only grossed $16.2 million from a $50 million budget.
[Image via Warner Bros.]
