Mel Gibson hurls insult at ‘Batman v Superman’

Over the weekend at the Venice film festival, Mel Gibson launched an attack on comic-book movies, comparing their protagonists unfavourably with the real-life hero in his new movie, Hacksaw Ridge. “The difference between a real superhero and a comic-book superhero,” said Gibson, “is that real superheroes didn’t wear any Spandex.”

And on Tuesday, Gibson renewed his campaign against the stretchy stuff in an interview with Deadline, repeating his quote and adding: “Spandex must cost a lot.”

Gibson had one particular film in his cross hairs: the critically unloved Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which he called “a piece of [rubbish]”. The film arose in conversation when Gibson compared its budget with the more modest spend on Hacksaw Ridge. The director said that he looked at $200 million (Dh734 million) movies “and scratch my head. I’m really baffled by it. I think there’s a lot of waste, but maybe if I did one of those things with the green screens I’d find out different.

“It seems to me that you could do it for less ... You’re spending outrageous amounts of money, $180 million or more, I don’t know how you make it back after the taxman gets you, and after you give half to the exhibitors.”