Mel Gibson Signs With APA

Mike Fleming Jr
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award-winning actor, director, producer and screenwriter Mel Gibson has signed with APA.

Gibson had been at CAA, but left after the exit of his primary agents Jack Whigham and Michael Cooper. They went to Range Media Partners. Gibson moved to APA to join president Jim Osborne, who started his career as one of iconic ICM agent Ed Limato’s protege assistants. Limato was Gibson’s agent forever. Gibson went with Limato to WME but parted company with the agency after Limato died, in the wake of controversial comments the actor/director made at a troubled period in his life. He spent several years regaining his footing when he was managed by former CAA honcho Rick Nicita. When Nicita retired, Gibson went to CAA.

Gibson has been busy. He currently stars in three upcoming feature films: the Tim Kirkby-directed action/thriller Last Looks opposite Morena Baccarin and Charlie Hunnam; the Eshom and Ian Nelms-directed comedy Fatman, opposite Walter Goggins and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Saban Films; and the Joe Carnahan-directed sci-fi action/thriller Boss Level, opposite Annabelle Wallis and Fran Grillo. Other recent credits include the crime drama Dragged Across Concrete opposite Vince Vaughn, and the comedy Daddy’s Home 2, opposite Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

As a filmmaker, Gibson is developing several projects. At Warner Bros, he cowrote and will direct the remake of The Wild Bunch based on the original 1969 film directed by Sam Peckinpah. Deadline broke in 2019 that Michael Fassbender, Jamie Foxx and Peter Dinklage were the actors he had ready to take part, but that was before the pandemic scrambled everything. Gibson is coming off the 2016 historical drama Hacksaw Ridge, a film that grossed over $180 million worldwide and got six Oscar nominations and won two. The noms included Best Picture and Best Director. Before that Gibson directed the 2006 Mayan thriller Apocalypto, the 2004 blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, and before that the 1995 historical drama, Braveheart, which won the Best Picture Oscar and the Best Director prize for Gibson.

Beyond that, Gibson has several projects percolating. He’ll reteam with Carnahan for Leo From Toledo, playing a former hitman from the KC mob in witness protection whose memory is failing; Lethal Weapon 5, a continuation of the blockbuster Warner Bros franchise that has director Richard Donner returning, a script by Channing Gibson and Danny Glover and Rene Russo poised to return. There is also the sequel The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection, which Gibson’s Icon is mounting. He’ll direct with Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace and they have Jim Caviezel poised to return as Jesus Christ, and Maia Morgenstern, Christo Jivkov, and Francesco De Vito attached.

Gibson joins an APA, roster that includes Gary Oldman, Mary J. Blige, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, and Famke Janssen, along with numerous writers, creators, producers, showrunners, authors, comedians, production companies, intellectual properties, artisans and lifestyle brands. The agency is looking to grow, on the heels of Ron Burkle’s The Yucaipa Companies making a substantial non-equity investment in the diversified talent agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Atlanta, Toronto and London.

Gibson continues to be lawyered by Leigh Brecheen at Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson.

More from Deadline

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.