Mel Gibson in ‘Expendables 3’

Blood Father, the latest action movie starring Mel Gibson, has been acquired for U.S. theatrical distribution by Lionsgate, according to Deadline. The film centers on John Link (Gibson), an ex-con who reunites with his estranged daughter to protect her from a band of drug dealers. William H. Macy (Fargo), Diego Luna (Milk), and Elisabeth Rohm (American Hustle) also star in the film.

The film is directed by Jean-Fracois Richet, who was behind 2008’s two-part biopic Mesrine, about notorious French gangster Jaques Mesrine. This will be Richet’s second American film, as he previously directed the 2001 adaptation of the John Carpenter action film Assault on Precinct 13.

This will be Gibson’s first theatrical movie as the protagonist since 2010’s Edge of Darkeness. Films like Machete Kills and The Expendables 3 took advantage of general audiences’ expectations of the actor by casting him as the villain, though he did play the hero in the 2012 straight-to-video action film Get the Gringo.

Gibson will return to directing with Hacksaw Ridge staring Andrew Garfield as a WWII medic who was the first conscientious objector to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. The film is currently set for a 2016 release. Blood Father will release next year. No specific date has been announced.