Love him? Loathe him? Have “sugar tits” or feel a drunk dude deserves a second chance? Either way, Mel Colmcille Gerard Gibson (AO) is one heck of a talented director and remains a compelling screen presence.
He proved he still has it with Hacksaw Ridge back in 2016. Now the Hollywood Reporter says he is limbering up for his next directing gig.
Staying with the war in the Pacific and the Battle of Okinawa, Destroyer will be based on the a non-fiction book Hell From the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack by John Wukovits.
Rosalind Ross, Gibson’s longtime girlfriend, wrote the script.
The book tells how the crewmen of the USS Laffey defended their ship from an unprecedented 22 kamikaze attacks on April 16, 1945.
To put that into context, between April 6 and June 22 at Okinawa, the Japanese flew 1,465 kamikaze aircraft in large-scale, wave attacks against the US Navy and British Fleet.
368 Allied ships — including 120 amphibious craft — were damaged while another 36 — including 12 destroyers similar to the Laffey — were sunk during the battle. The US Navy’s dead exceeded its wounded, with 4,907 killed and 4,874 wounded, the vast majority from the dastardly, Japanese suicide attacks.
However, some how, the USS Laffey miraculously survived.
Gibson is also rumoured to be up for a role in The Six Billion Dollar Man opposite Mark Wahlberg.
The two actors recently worked together on comedy sequel Daddy’s Home 2. No word yet on his character. My money is on the villain. That I would pay to see.
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