NAMES IN THE NEWS : Mel Gibson Screens Violence

NEW YORK — Mel Gibson, star of such violence-studded films as “The Road Warrior” and “Lethal Weapon,” is choosy about what he lets his six children see.

“I think there is a level of violence in films that’s unacceptable,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything like that in ‘Lethal Weapon.’ It’s not pornographic violence. I’ve seen films where it was too much.”

But Gibson said he would not let his children watch “The Road Warrior,” which is set in a violent, post-apocalyptic world.

“It is such a fantastic movie and some people come to some pretty bad ends there,” Gibson said in the Sept. 3 issue of US magazine. “But to me it’s not serious, it’s almost comic.”