Mel Gibson On Movie Violence

CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen sat down with Mel Gibson to talk about his new movie Payback, violence on film, his marriage, his six kids (and one more on the way), and getting older.

In his gritty and violent new movie Payback, Mel Gibson stars as a thief obsessed with settling scores with the partners in crime who double-crossed him and left him for dead.

Gibson, of course, is something of an expert on violent action movies, having made his name in the Australian trilogy of Mad Max movies, beginning in 1981 when he was an unknown. He later played L.A. cop Martin Riggs in a series of four blockbuster Lethal Weapon movies, the latest in 1998.

But Gibson, now 42, says the violence in the movies doesn't bother him. "Because, as far as you go back in any story, just think of yourself. What kind of stories did you want to hear when you were a kid? Did you want to hear about Bambi and the butterflies, or did you want to hear about the giant eating the children?"

Kids and grownups, says Gibson, are fascinated with violence for a reason: "We're all going to die. It's inevitable. It's part of facing that," he says. "I think if we explore those themes in stories, that's a way of dealing with it. It's therapeutic."

But, Gibson says, if you think a violent movie is bad for your kids, "don't take them." Himself a father of six children, even he admits that there are some movies that go too far for children.

On the subject of acting, Gibson says, "It's getting easier. I'm not ever going to call it easy because you can never take it for granted."

Gibson says it's flattering that, following his 1995 Oscars for best picture and best director for Braveheart, he is sometimes asked to direct as well as act.

His own favorite movies include Sunset Boulevard, especially for the way it begins. "At the time it was different from most stories," he says. "The guy is lying in the swimming pool dead right at the beginning. He's talking to you. Then you go back and see what happened to him. It's pretty interesting."

Actors who stand out for Gibson include the late Steve McQueen. "There was no one for handling a prop like Steve McQueen. He was immaculate with the way he handled things -- economically, and he was so relaxed with all that stuff. And nobody smoked a cigar like Humphrey Bogart. He was good with props also."

For Gibson, the screen is made for action, but adds, "it doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot, though, unless it's rooted in some kind of decent story foundation." If the story isn't strong, Gibson says, "then it tends to become a series of stunts and that can become boring."

Gibson jokes that he and co-star Danny Glover work well together in the Lethal Weapon movies because "Both of us don't know what we're doing. We join together in our weakness in trying to get ouof this mess [and] get off the set with some dignity. We're trying to help each other out there, and that reads."

Gibson squashes rumors that he could be the next Batman in that series of action movies. "No," he says, emphatically noting, "the whole suit with the six-pack, no, that would hurt."

On the home front, Gibson has been married to wife Robyn for 19 years. Their seventh child is now on the way. He doesn't pretend to have any secrets to a lasting marriage, though. "You wake up every morning, you say, 'yeah, let's try this again,'" he says. "It requires effort from both sides. But the fact that you will actually make the effort I think is what does it. No miracles. I'm still working on it, man. I think that's the key. You just got to try to figure it out."

Their big family, he says, keeps life "kind of hectic. There's a lot of different intentions and motives flying around. There are a lot of people. You have to make the machine work. Every now and then you have to get in there with a piece of wire and tie the thing together. They are getting older, looking out for themselves, driving, which frightens the hell out of me. I let them go."

Does he worry about getting old? "Nobody wants to get old," he says, but adds, "there are compensations. It's easier to find true moments of peace and serenity with simple things. A five-iron. I never would have imagined -- I like that game."

Maybe golf is a good thing, but what does he think is the worst thing about getting older? "Back pain, getting out of bed in the morning, ankles, it's hard to walk for about four steps. You feel like, you know, James Caan in Misery, dragging your torso across the floor."

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