Mel Gibson calls Robert Downey Jr. 'generous and kind' for defending him when he was 'poster boy for canceled'

"I was pretty much nonexistent in Hollywood at the time, and he stood up and spoke for me," the "Lethal Weapon" actor said of the "Iron Man" star.

Mel Gibson is thankful to this day that his friend and Air America costar Robert Downey Jr. stood up for him after his headline-making 2006 arrest in Malibu.

In a new Esquire profile of Downey, Gibson expressed his appreciation for the Oppenheimer star's support. "One time, I got into a bit of a sticky situation where it kind of ended my career," he said. "I was drunk in the back of a police car and I said some stupid s---, and all of a sudden: blacklisted. I'm the poster boy for canceled."

The Braveheart actor and filmmaker was referring to his infamous DUI arrest, during which, according to a police report, "Gibson blurted out a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks about '(profanity redacted) Jews.' Gibson yelled out, 'The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.' Gibson then asked, 'Are you a Jew?'"

In the Esquire piece, Gibson went on to recall how Downey — who also thanked Gibson earlier this year in his SAG Award acceptance speech — helped him get back on his feet.  "A couple of years into that he invited me to some kind of award he was getting — we always had this kind of seesaw thing, where if he was on the wagon, I was falling off, and if I was on the wagon, he was falling off," he said. "So I was pretty much nonexistent in Hollywood at the time, and he stood up and spoke for me. It was a bold and generous and kind gesture. I loved him for that."

The event in question was the 25th American Cinematheque Awards in 2011, where Downey thanked Gibson for helping him mount a career comeback following years of substance abuse issues and legal troubles. "I asked Mel to present this award for me for a reason," he said. "When I couldn't get sober, he told me not to give up hope and encouraged me to find my faith. It didn't have to be his or anyone else's, as long as it was rooted in forgiveness. And I couldn't get hired, so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him."

That project was 2003's The Singing Detective, for which Gibson paid Downey's insurance bond after insurance companies refused to insure him for his past troubles.

At the American Cinematheque Awards, Downey continued, "All he asked in return was that someday I help the next guy in some small way. It's reasonable to assume at the time he didn't imagine the next guy would be him or that someday was tonight. So anyway, on this special occasion and in light of the recent holidays, including Columbus Day, I would ask that you join me, unless you are completely without sin, in which case you picked the wrong f---ing industry, in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me, allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame."

Gibson didn't appear in any films for four years following the DUI incident, until 2010's Edge of Darkness. In the 2010s, he appeared in mainstream projects such as The Expendables 3, Daddy's Home 2, and Machete Kills. His directorial project Hacksaw Ridge also received six Academy Award nominations in 2017, including Best Picture and Best Director for Gibson himself.

His next directorial project, Flight Risk, stars Mark Wahlberg, and a Gibson-helmed sequel to The Passion of the Christ is expected to move forward in the near future.

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