Oscar-winner Mel Gibson plays an arms dealer in Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables 3. Gibson’s character, Stonebanks, turns rogue in some kind of Soviet/Asian republic and “must be taken out.” According to Andrew Pulver of The Guardian, this kind of criminal role might be what’s left of Gibson’s “utterly toxic phase of his career.” But hey, Gibson is still getting work. In his next film, Blood Father, Gibson plays an ex-con who reunites with his estranged, wayward teenage daughter (Erin Moriarty, True Detective) to protect her from drug dealers who are trying to kill her. So a bad guy who turns into a good guy. If only Mel himself could pull that off.
Gibson isn’t going to appear as Max Rockatansky again, the good cop who turns into a vengeful murderer in the Mad Max films. Mad Max director George Miller recently said he was “heartbroken” over Gibson’s personal troubles/scandals. He had originally hoped to bring Gibson back for a fourth film, Mad Max: Fury Road, but choose 36-year-old Tom Hardy (Star Trek, The Dark Knight Rises) instead. Hardy has suffered from personal troubles, too. In his 20s, Hardy battled addictions to alcohol and crack cocaine. He’s been sober since 2003.
