Sad news about Lethal Weapon 5, it looks like if it does go ahead there will be no Martin Riggs, according to Richard Donner it is dead in the water as he has nothing to do with the production of the 5th film and without him, Mel will not sign on to do it.
It was reported that screenwriter Shane Black and producer Joel Silver were working on a fifth installment of the franchise without the director and producer of all four "Lethal Weapon" movies, Dick Donner's involement. He had this to say while talking to the Los Angeles Times:
"Mel turned it down," Donner said. "I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved. Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be."
"It's too bad, actually, because Channing Gibson, who wrote the fourth one, and Mike Riva, a designer on three of them, and myself and Derek [Hoffman, an associate at The Donner Company] had an incredibly strong story for the fifth movie. But we weren't given the opportunity and I think maybe I could have convinced Mel to do it. But Warners chose to go with Joel Silver."
"Yes, the project is pretty much dead in the water unless someone had the sense to come to me."
