Why Mel Gibson turned down the “pointless” role that saved Anthony Hopkins’ career
At this stage of his career, Mel Gibson probably isn’t turning down too many of the offers that land on his desk, because it’s been a long time since he had the clout to pick and choose which parts he plays.
From the early 1980s to the early 2000s, he certainly did, with the erstwhile Mad Max and Lethal Weapon frontman rising to the summit of the Hollywood A-list to cement himself as one of the biggest, most popular, and bankable leading men of his generation.
Of course, terrible things have a habit of happening to terrible people, and Gibson’s fall from grace was swift and sudden. It’s been a long time since he appeared in a high-profile production backed by a major studio, and things have gotten so bad that even shitty B-movies refuse to use his name in the marketing.
That’s not to say he could have turned things around had he accepted the role that saved Anthony Hopkins’ career, but there’s definitely a sense of irony to a fallen star knocking back a supporting part that reignited a fellow Academy Award winner’s creative juices and gave them a stellar second wind.
By his own admission, Hopkins had gotten lazy and was sleepwalking his way through cinema until Kenneth Branagh came knocking and asked him to play Odin in Marvel Studios’ Thor. He didn’t care much for green screens or bulky costumes, describing his time with the franchise as “pointless acting,” but he nonetheless admitted that the comic book adaptation was single-handedly responsible for his resurgence.
Would the same thing have happened to Gibson? Probably not, seeing as Hopkins never publicly disgraced himself like the director of Braveheart and Apocalypto did. Still, like many others in his age range, whether they’re actors or directors, it was his distaste for superhero cinema that swore him off.
“Some are good. Some are kind of funny,” he told The Guardian, namechecking Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. “And some of them are just like retreads. I mean, you can watch them do Spider-Man five times. There is a slight shift in film. But, then again, I think all films are suffering from people not being able to now open them with their name.”
When he was asked if he’d been offered any Marvel movies, Gibson answered in the affirmative. “Yeah, long time ago, to play Thor’s dad,” he shared. “But I didn’t do it.” Years later, he was in preliminary talks to helm what would eventually become Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, and was Robert Downey Jr’s number one directorial candidate for the hypothetical Iron Man 4, but that’s as close to comic books as he’s gotten.
He didn’t care for the material, but the way Thor rejuvenated Hopkins was startling. Inspired to approach his work with renewed vigour, he quickly sank his teeth into meaty parts that earned him acclaim, adulation, and award nominations, with the longtime Hannibal Lecter earning his first Oscar, Bafta, Primetime Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations in over 20 years soon after.
Meanwhile, Gibson has been slumming it on the straight-to-video circuit, not that he’d have been guaranteed a similar rebirth, which doesn’t make it any less interesting to think about.
