We're on a highway to Mel!

Mel Gibson has been very quiet of late. I assumed this silence was because he died falling off Mount Rushmore at the end of that episode of Family Guy, but apparently that wasn't really him. And, as if to prove that very point, the erstwhile Mad Max has been a busy boy this week, announcing a brace of new projects in the trade papers.

On Monday, Variety informed us that Gibson had finally settled on a fourth directorial project and follow-up to 2006's well-received Apocalypto (which, while none too shabby at all, does feature the daftest deus ex machina in the whole of cinematic history). Though no title and few details were provided, the mere fact that this new movie will apparently star Leonardo DiCaprio and is a historical epic about Vikings was enough to get plenty of juices flowing in plenty of people (the horn-hatted pillagers being seen as a good match to the predilection for violence exhibited in Gibson's last three directorial efforts). Shooting reportedly is set to commence in the latter part of 2010, with Bill Monaghan on scripting duties and Brit Graham King producing.

Monaghan and King performed those same respective duties on DiCaprio-starring Oscar-magnet The Departed, and they are also both involved in Edge of Darkness, which is the first new project we are due to see Gibson in. Released at the end of January, Edge of Darkness treads similar territory to this year's State of Play, being a British TV political thriller adapted for the movies. Gibson takes on the role played by Bob Peck in the original, of a policeman investigating the death of his activist daughter, while support comes from Ray Winstone and Danny Huston. Curiously the director is Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, the upcoming Green Lantern movie) who first made his name as helmer of the small-screen original.

Yesterday saw Variety again doling out details of another brand spanking new Gibson movie, the title of this one being How I Spent My Summer Vacation. In reality we imagine the Gibster spends his summer vacations relaxing in luxurious resorts, being served drinks (hopefully of the soft variety only) by Amazonian handmaidens with names like Krystal, Khandi and Tizer. However for dramatic purposes the movie will find Gibson's career crook locked up in a filth-pit Mexican jail, where he forms a close bond with a nine year-old boy. How I Spent My Summer Vacation is being produced by Gibson's Icon Productions, and he has also penned the script. One thing he will not be doing though is directing, as that responsibility has gone to Adrian Grunberg, who was the Gibsonator's AD on Apocalypto. Mel was spotted scouting Mexican locations last week, so it seems to be very much full steam ahead on this one.

The final fragment of our Great Gibson Update is delivered in the shape of The Beaver, which of course was the victorious screenplay in last year's Black List of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood. The praised script by Kyle Killen has now been shot by Gibzilla's Maverick co-star Jodie Foster, and will be released next year. The story revolves around one Walter Black (played by Mad Mel), a troubled company chief and family man, who begins conducting all his communications via 'The Beaver' - a hand puppet in the shape of that log-nibbling animal which speaks with what is described in the script as a 'crisp English accent'. As well as directing, Foster features as the presumably rather concerned Mrs. Black, and also amongst the cast is Anton Yelchin (Chekov in Abrams' Star Trek).