Mel Gibson talks gun control, the 'potholes' of fame

Mel Gibson (Reuters)

“Hacksaw Ridge” director Mel Gibson isn't afraid to discuss the gun control debate. He spoke with Fox News about the issues our country is facing during an interview ahead of his new film. 

“Well, I understand where it comes from, the right to bear arms because the Revolution and that stuff and tyranny and the right to defend yourself, and I still agree with that, but it’s kind of out of balance at the moment," he said at a recent press junket. "...Something has to be done in order to stop some of the heinous violence that has [occured] just like sporadically and shockingly..."

Gibson said he isn't sure how to solve the gun control debate.

"I don’t know what the answer to that is... It’s going to take someone smarter than me to figure that out.”

And as Gibson prepares for his directorial comeback with this film, he said the industry has changed in his years off, highlighting the success of his co-star Andrew Garfield.

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“I think he’s smarter than I am. He’s not going to step in the same potholes,” he said with a smile. “The industry has changed. It’s like the kind of film has changed. If you want to make substantial stories and things that are profound and mean something you kind of have to delve into the independent realm..."

He called "Hacksaw Ridge" a "big independent film," noting that the film is "not even that huge a budget or anything."

Garfield plays Desmond T. Doss, a United States Army corporal and combat medic during WWII who won a Congressional Medal of Honor despite refusing to bear arms.

Gibson said bold men like Doss exist in the world today.

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“These guys exist. They are in the armed forces and other things—sometimes they are police officers; sometimes they are social workers; they are around us. They are not grandstanding because they are humble.”

“Hacksaw Ridge” hits theaters on November 4th.