Actor will reportedly join cast of Robert Rodriguez's 'Machete' sequel.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Mel Gibson
Photo: Frederick M. Brown/ Getty Images

Things are coming together for Robert Rodriguez. Earlier this month, the Austin-based director announced that two of his proposed sequels were moving forward. "Machete Kills," the sequel to the expansion of his "Grindhouse" trailer, will film first this spring, with "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" following in the summer.

The next step for each will be casting, and Rodriguez made his hopes for the "Machete Kills" cast early on, expressing interest in Michelle Williams and Mel Gibson. Now Deadline is reporting that Rodriguez has successfully hired one of those actors.

According to the report, Gibson is in negotiations to join the next "Grindhouse" spin-off. There's no word on who Gibson would play if he does join, but a plot synopsis may include hints. A brief description of the story says, "Machete is drafted by the U.S. government to track an arms dealer through Mexico before he can launch a rocket."

Gibson recently found himself back in the headlines for entirely different reasons. After Warner Bros. rejected Joe Eszterhas' script for Gibson's proposed film about the Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee, the screenwriter accused Gibson of anti-Semitic slurs during their time working together on the screenplay. Gibson replied to the accusations via an open letter, and Eszterhas responded by releasing a surreptitiously recorded rant from the actor/director.

Rodriguez has been known to cast actors not long after public scandals. For the first "Machete" film in 2010, he gave Lindsay Lohan her first theatrical release after "I Know Who Killed Me," which had come out three years earlier.

With two films scheduled to film so close together, Rodriguez is unsure whether he'll be able to direct the entirety of "Machete Kills" before moving on to direct "Sin City." He recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he wants to direct the entire film but may have to pass it along to a co-director if scheduling gets too tight.

Check out everything we've got on "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For."

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