‘He plays one word in particular that’s real touchy’: Uh oh, Mel Gibson is going to say something controversial in ‘The Continental’

Casting The Continental: From the World of John Wick has already found out for itself.

As important as it is to separate the artist from the art, it’s not a coincidence that many of the scathing reviews pointed in the direction of the prequel made a noted point of trashing Gibson in particular, regardless of the end product’s final quality.

In what’s almost certainly going to cause even more controversy, director Albert Hughes hinted to TV Insider that his character Cormac is potentially going to ruffle some feathers in an episode, particularly as it relates to the Vietnamese girlfriend of Winston’s brother.

“What we all are familiar with from Lethal Weapon and all those other movies is those zingers that he has. Those aren’t in the script. That’s Mel. He starts playing with words. In episode 3, he plays one word in particular that’s real touchy. If you read into it and you see what he’s playing with, they’re very sensitive issues. I expressed to him, you have to go there, because we’re poking fun at this type of character who is very ignorant [about] where people are from, the crazy uncle we all know.”

Regardless of whether or not it suits the story and the role he’s playing, the criticisms of having Gibson of all people deliver a line that reads as culturally and/or racially insensitive is a bold move whichever way you want to cut it, but we’ll just have to wait and see if it pays off creatively.