Mel Gibson’s next role may be the lead in a film by French director Jean-Francois Richet. Gibson is reportedly in talks for Blood Father, described by Deadline as a “Taken-style action thriller…about an ex-con who reunites with his estranged wayward 16-year old daughter to protect her from drug dealers who are trying to kill her.” The script will be written by Peter Craig, one of the scribes behind Ben Affleck’s The Town and the upcoming two part finale of The Hunger Games film series, Mockingjay.
Richet’s other forays into the crime and action genres include the 2005 remake of of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 and Mesrine, his 2008 biopic of French criminal Jacques Mesrine.
After his…. let’s call them public controversies, Gibson hasn’t had the most successful run with his more recent films. 2013’s Machete Kills – wherein Gibson played the main villain – failed to make back its twenty million dollar budget, and wasn’t treated too kindly by critics. His 2012 film, Get the Gringo fared better critically, but only made about five million theatrically against another twenty million budget. However, action thrillers starring older actors are still fully capable of turning a profit – the Liam Neeson helmed Non-Stop has taken in over 140 million dollars against a fifty million dollar budget – so if marketed correctly, Blood Father could serve as a comeback for Gibson.
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