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Mel Gibson’s Comeback Took A Full 10 Years After His DUI And Anti-Semitic Rant

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 19:50 PST, Jan 17, 2017

Mel Gibson has defied the odds and the opinions of his critics by making a successful comeback in show business, winning accolades for directing Hacksaw Ridge, the 2016 biographic movie about Desmond Doss who helped to save lives of a vast number of United States soldiers during World War II. According to Forbes, Hacksaw Ridge has been well-received by global audiences and has earned $150 million globally.

Mel Gibson not only won the award for the Best Director at the AACTA awards ceremony in December, 2016, but also won the award once again at the AACTA International Awards ceremony that was held earlier this month. In fact, Hacksaw Ridge can be considered as Mel Gibson’s redemption because the Lethal Weapon actor had failed to achieve success in a number of film projects in which he worked as an actor.

The slump in the Lethal Weapon actor’s career can be attributed to an incident in which he made anti-Semitic statements after he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Los Angeles. The incident, which was recorded by the Los Angeles police, was incredibly harmful to Mel Gibson’s reputation and came close to being his complete career downfall.

In the same incident, Mel Gibson also reportedly misbehaved with a female police officer by calling her “sugart*ts.” After the incident, Mel Gibson was all but shunned by the big studios who refused to be associated with any films that featured the once-highly-sought after Australian actor.

Moreover, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Mel Gibson’s agency, severed ties with the actor following the shameful incident, and the Lethal Weapon actor had to rely on close friends like Jodie Foster to help him get back into film projects.

Much to the disappointment of the segment of his fans who remained loyal after the incident with the police, most of the films that were released after the incident failed to do well at the box office. Between 2010 and 2015, a total of five films were released that featured Mel Gibson and three of these films flopped. Edge of Darkness, The Beaver, and Machete Kills were the three flop films that almost signaled the end of Mel Gibson’s career as an actor.

However, his subsequent victory at the AACTA International Awards clearly proves that the 61-year-old actor and director can still deliver hit movies like Braveheart and The Passion of Christ. According to the ABC, Mel Gibson expressed his optimism by talking about his excitement after receiving the two coveted awards.

“I’ve got two of these now. I can put them in a cupboard, a little soft music, candlelight. Maybe they’ll breed more? What do you think? I wonder what the gestation period is?”

It appears that Mel Gibson failed to impress the panel of the Golden Globe Awards because he did not win the award for his direction in Hacksaw Ridge at last week’s ceremony.

However, the director must have felt somewhat happy because the show was hosted by Jimmy Fallon and not Ricky Gervais, the comedian who took the opportunity to take several potshots at Gibson while hosting last year’s Golden Globes awards. Gervais took the opportunity to rake up Gibson’s controversial past during the 2016 ceremony, taunting him by asking him to explain the meaning of “sugart*ts.”

Despite obviously feeling livid about the joke, Gibson put on a brave face and did his best to carry himself in a dignified manner. Gervais also referred to Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic comments, and the Lethal Weapon actor later admitted that he felt like strangling Gervais during the ceremony.

After all, Mel Gibson is a person do does not easily forgive those who slight him. According to the Daily Mail, Mel Gibson later retorted that the comedian’s career is on the decline.

“I like seeing Ricky once every three years. It reminds me to get a colonoscopy.”

In a way, Mel Gibson escaped another roasting at the 2017 Golden Globes due to Ricky Gervais’s absence. However, he may have been equally annoyed by Meryl Streep’s politically-charged remarks against Donald Trump, the president-elect who is set to be sworn in on January 20. Reaction shots taken at the awards function reveal that Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn’s body language showed that neither actor was too impressed with Meryl Streep’s speech. However, Gibson has never said that he supported Trump’s presidential run.

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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jimmy fallon Ricky Gervais Meryl Streep Jodie Foster
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