Mel Gibson’s comeback is launching on two fronts. He’s behind the camera in the awards-tipped Hacksaw Ridge and in front of it in Jean-François Richet’s new thriller Blood Father. The director has selected a suitably Gibson-y clip from the film to share with Empire readers that you can watch below.
Gibson plays John Link, a man with a torrid past and plenty of current concerns to him, including a fraught relationship with his daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty). Throw in gangs, meth abuse and violence and it’s a combustible mix.
“This scene is an important one because it is the first time that Link and Lydia speak openly with each other,” Richet tells Empire. “It’s actually the only time that Link apologises and faces up to his errors in front of his daughter.”
The scene comes just before Lydia finds herself in deep with her boyfriend’s (Diego Luna) gang, and her old man is forced to put some old-style Gibson hurt down.
"I wanted to shoot this scene as simply as possible, without any effects,” the director continues, "so the actors could fill the whole space and fully convey the emotion between them. The motorbike represents the past that Link has fled, but it also represents the future because it will allow them to escape together. Thanks to Link recognising and accepting his failings, they will both be able to rebuild a new relationship."
Blood Father is out in the UK on 7 October. Watch the full trailer here.