Despite being 90 years old, Richard Donner is about to prove to Hollywood that he isn’t—as Robert Murtaugh would like to say—”too old for this sh*t.” During a recent interview with The Telegraph, the legendary Superman director confirmed that he would be returning to helm a ffith installment of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s classic buddy-cop franchise, Lethal Weapon.
“This is the final one,” Donner said. “It’s both my privilege and duty to put it to bed. It’s exciting, actually […] Hahaha! It’s the last one, I’ll promise you that.”
Written by Predator star Shane Black, the original Lethal Weapon was released in 1984 to critically acclaimed reviews and made $120 million in the box office on a $15 million budget. All of the films have revolved around Gibson and Glover’s wise-cracking LAPD duo, Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, who have gone from battling drug cartels to Asian triads.
Danny Glover actually discussed the possibility of a Lethal Weapon 5 over the summer, noting in an interview with Variety that he had read the script and liked it enough to put on the badge again.
“I don’t want to give away the plot on the script that I read, but I found the plot had very strong relevance to some of things that are happening today,” Glover said. “I can say that. But that was in January. History changes so fast…But yes, there’s been talk about it. There is something of a plan.”
Gibson seems similarly enthusiastic about returning as Riggs, having confirmed to Good Morning America in November that Richard Donner was developing a fifth Lethal Weapon film.
“The man who was behind all that – the man who brought it to the screen and gave it the goodies is working on it right now: Richard Donner. He’s a legend,” the actor said.