Mel Gibson calls Batman v Superman "a piece of s***"

Mel Gibson is not one to shy away from making bold statements, and while at the Venice Film Festival to promote his World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge the actor-director dismissed Batman v Superman as "a piece of shit" while expressing his frustration with Hollywood blockbusters:

"I look at them and scratch my head", Gibson told Deadline. "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. I don’t know. Maybe they do cost that much. It seems to me that you could do it for less. If you’re spending outrageous amounts of money, $180 million or more, I don’t know how you make it back after the tax man gets you and after you give half to the exhibitors".

Before you go thinking that Gibson is just getting his Marvel money, the actor-director had some strong words for all superhero blockbusters; "I’m not interested in the stuff. Do you know what the difference between real superheroes and comic book superheroes is? Real superheroes didn’t wear spandex. So I don’t know. Spandex must cost a lot".

While Gibson's disdain for DC's superheroes is undoubtedly the juiciest quote here, when taken as a whole there's some truth to be found in his comments on blockbusters. Many have commented on the fact that a lot of this year's summer offerings have been disappointing even though they keep getting more and more expensive to make (Batman v Superman had a $250 million budget).

With that said, Gibson was a lot less harsh on superhero cinema back in May - he even cited Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man as films he enjoyed - so we may yet see him behind the camera on a superhero film. Just don't expect it to be for one of Warner Bros' DC movies anymore.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Fishburne, and Amy Adams, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is available on Digital HD, DVD, and Blu-Ray now.

Images: Lionsgate

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.