Actor Mel Gibson has shared an update on the long-awaited fifth installment of the Lethal Weapon franchise, revealing that the script is complete but the film remains stuck in development due to studio- issues, Deadline reported.

Gibson said the fifth film would feature older versions of the franchise’s central characters, with one retired and the other working a desk job.
“The characters are quite different. They’re older. One’s retired. The other one’s on a desk job. He’s putting on too much weight, and it’s low-tech,” Gibson said, Deadline reported.

He explained that unlike the earlier films, the new installment would not rely heavily on large-scale explosions and elaborate action sequences, but would still retain the energy of an action movie.

“It doesn’t get into the big explosions and all this sort of stuff. But it still has the energy and, I think, drive of a big action film,” he said, Deadline reported.

Gibson added that the film would only make minimal references to the previous installments and would largely work as a standalone story.
“It’s a story all on its own,” he said.

Describing the action, Gibson said the movie would include a foot chase designed to feel like a car chase, while keeping the action simpler and placing greater emphasis on the characters, Deadline reported.
“It’s a foot chase, right? But it’s kind of filmed like a car chase. So it still has all the elements of what was in the other films, but not nearly so complicated. But it deals more about the people in it,” he said.
Gibson also confirmed that he would “absolutely” want to direct the film, a responsibility he said the franchise’s original director, Richard Donner, had wanted him to take on.

“Donner, God rest his soul, he said to me in this deep voice, he said, ‘Hey kid, if I drop off the perch, you’ll take this over, won’t you?’ I said, ‘Shut up! You’re not going anywhere.’ And of course he did,” Gibson recalled.
He said that after Donner’s death, others reminded him of the director’s wishes and encouraged him to take over the project.

“And, you know, when he passed away, I didn’t say anything. But apparently he had told other people that too, so they all came to me and said, ‘You direct it.’ I said, ‘Yeah, okay,'” Gibson said.