ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty ImagesWow, Mel Gibson isn't kidding.
It really has been nearly eight years since the actor and Oscar-winning director was arrested for DUI in Malibu.
Etc.
But while some Hollywood scandals go away quickly, some just linger in the hearts and minds of...well, lots of people. And for a long time.
For instance, while Gibson has made a few movies, sat front and center at Jodie Foster's table at the Golden Globes when she accepted her Cecil B. DeMille Award, attended film festivals and is going to be back on the big screen Aug. 15 in The Expendables 3, his issues were also fresh enough in Gary Oldman's mind for the British star to ramble on in defense of his fellow thesp.
(When Playboy asked Oldman about Gibson, that is, because many are still thinking about the Lethal Weapon star as a cautionary tale.)
But when The Hollywood Reporter recently asked about his past troubles, a question prompted by Oldman's shout-out, Gibson brushed it aside like the old news that his issues technically are.
"It's behind me; it's an 8-year-old story," he pointed out.
"It keeps coming up like a rerun, but I've dealt with it and I've dealt with it responsibly and I've worked on myself for anything I am culpable for. All the necessary mea culpas have been made copious times, so for this question to keep coming up, it's kind of like...
"I'm sorry they feel that way, but I've done what I need to do."
As for the future, Gibson told THR that he's done with financing his own films, as he did with The Passion of the Christ (a huge hit) and Apocalypto (not so much), but he has a few things in the pipeline.
However, aside from saying that he recently wrapped the film Blood Father, Gibson didn't want to talk about them.
"There are specific things, but I don't want to talk about them, you know why?" the 58-year-old actor said. "Because every time I do somebody else goes and does it. It's a kind of industrial espionage thing and they do it badly for TV."