"Charlie St. Cloud" star would play soldier searching for love in adaptation of Sparks" novel.
By Eric Ditzian

Zac Efron
Photo: Randall Michelson/ WireImage

Just days before the release of Zac Efron"s latest film, "Charlie St. Cloud," the "High School Musical" actor reportedly is in talks to join the cast of another potential blockbuster.

New York magazine"s Vulture blog reports that the 22-year-old may star in "The Lucky One," the film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel about an American marine who credits his survival in the Iraq War to a photograph of a woman he"s never met. Back in North Carolina after three tours abroad, he sets out to meet her. Scott Hicks ("No Reservations") will direct, and Doug McGrath and Will Fetters, who penned the script for the Robert Pattinson vehicle "Remember Me," are adapting the book for the screen.

Sparks" novels have become coveted Hollywood material, and film adaptations of his books include "Message in a Bottle," "The Notebook," "Nights in Rodanthe" and this year"s "Dear John." If Efron stars in "The Lucky One," he would join a high-profile collection of actors who have appeared in Nicholas Sparks movies, including Kevin Costner, Ryan Gosling, Richard Gere and Channing Tatum.

Efron reportedly is also close to signing on for a starring role in "Die in a Gunfight," according to Deadline New York. A "Romeo and Juliet"-style dramatic romance, the film would have Efron playing a New York City kid who falls in love with the daughter of his father"s enemy.

Meanwhile, Efron continues to seek projects for himself through his Ninjas Runnin" Wild production company. Among his movies in development are a workplace comedy with his "17 Again" production team, a time-travel tale called "Einstein Theory" and "Art of the Steal," based on a Wired magazine article about a master thief.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Gym Class Heroes frontman doesn"t just sing about billionaires, he knows many of them too ...
By James Montgomery

Travie McCoy
Photo: MTV News

At this point, Travie McCoy knows a thing or two about billionaires. He knows he"d like to be one — so freakin" bad. Or at least, so goes the hook of his summertime smash "Billionaire," the song that"s catapulted him to the brink of surprise superstardom.

So, on the same day we caught up with him to talk about his plans for the follow-up to "Billionaire" (a much darker song called "Need You", we decided to test his knowledge of the very (very) rich, with a little game called "The Billionaire Quiz Show."

We chose six of Forbes magazine"s wealthiest individuals — we"re talking the mega-multi billionaires of the world — and asked him to tell us not only who they are, but how they made their money, too.

And despite the premise behind "Billionaire" — basically that McCoy will never be one, so the best he can do is dream about what he"d do if he was — it turns out that he"s pretty well versed in the ways of the fabulously wealthy, nailing 50 percent of his picks. Or at least something close to that.

So the next time "Billionaire" comes on at the club, you can feel good about grooving to it ... after all, it comes from a dude who knows his Jorge Paulo Lemanns from his Carlos Slim Helús.

But why are you still reading this? Check out the video version of Travie"s masterful performance on "The Billionaire Quiz Show" right now!

• Travie McCoy Knows His Billionaires

• Travie McCoy

Singer to make her movie debut alongside Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Slarsgard in Peter Berg"s 2012 board-game flick.
By Adam Rosenberg

Rihanna
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

Rihanna will take her first step into Hollywood with a role in director Peter Berg"s science-fiction-tinged board-game adaptation, "Battleship."

There"s no word on how her character factors into the story, but Variety confirms that the "Love the Way You Lie" singer is joining the cast that already includes Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgård, who play brothers and naval officers assigned to a multinational task force charged with repelling alien invaders. Also cast is Tadanobu Asano, who is perhaps best known for his leading roles in "Ichi the Killer" and Genghis Khan biopic "Mongol."

Rihanna has yet to appear in a feature film, but she was the subject of a casting rumor in late 2008 that still persists. Wu-Tang member RZA told MTV News that he was co-producing a remake of martial arts classic "The Last Dragon" with Samuel L. Jackson, who is also set for a starring role. "That"s the one I"m rooting for," RZA said at the time in reference to the potential Rihanna casting. "We"re keeping that same concept of the girl being in the music business," he added, referring to one of the movie"s plot points.

The pop singer is currently at the top of the charts with her Eminem collaboration, "Love the Way You Lie," and the track"s video, featuring Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan, is expected to premiere this week.

Kitsch is no stranger to working with Peter Berg, with a leading role on the filmmaker"s popular TV series, "Friday Night Lights." He"ll star with Malin Akerman and Ryan Phillippe later this year in "The Bang Bang Club," and 2012 will see the release of his turn in "John Carter of Mars." Skarsgård is best known for his role on the hit HBO vampire series "True Blood." He"s got a number of films lined up, including a remake of "Straw Dogs" and Lars Von Trier"s "Antichrist" follow-up, "Melancholia."

Universal has set "Battleship" for release on May 25, 2012.

Check out everything we"ve got on "Battleship."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

• Rihanna

"Who you know, 10 albums later, get better than he"s ever been before?" Joey Crack asks Mixtape Daily.
By Shaheem Reid

Fat Joe
Photo: E1

Don"t Sleep: Necessary Notables

Independent Album: The Darkside, Vol. 1

Headliner: Fat Joe

Key Cameos: The Clipse and Cam"ron on "Kilo"; R. Kelly on "How Did We Get Here"; and Lil Wayne on "Heavenly Father."

Essential Info: When Fat Joe says that this is just the first volume of The Darkside, the Bronx veteran means it. He"s already started recording the follow-up to the LP, which officially dropped Tuesday (July 27).

"The Darkside, Vol. 2, we already started the intro," Joe said with a grin when he stopped by 1515 headquarters recently. "We"re just trying to make The Darkside its own brand. It"s Fat Joe, but it"s The Darkside. We come with Vol. 2, make it crazier than Vol. 1, by the time Vol. 3 come, we got a problem on our hands.

"Your man Raekwon, without a radio single, banged out numbers on that Purple Tape [a.k.a. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. II] because that was already an established classic. It was a brand itself. People knew "I gotta hear that next album." "

While the second offering probably won"t be out until February, Joe"s current effort, which marks his 10th LP, still has plenty of legs.

"I"m excited about this album. I can"t wait "til the fans get it," Joe said." We locked ourselves in the studio for like eight, nine months: wasn"t going out, just concentrating on music. I feel like this album is finally where people can hear it and be like, "He"s one of the greats." Who you know, 10 albums later, get better than he"s ever been before? It"s hard. To come from all this huge success like a "What"s Love," and a "Lean Back," then take it back to the street with The Darkside.

Joe said that his friends, producers Cool & Dre, were two of the people who inspired this project. The production duo believed the Bronx MC had missed the mark with 2009"s Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) 2 and wanted to hear an album of just hardcore Joey Crack music. He recorded the album in their Lake Oasis studio in Miami.

"They was like, "Joe, you the boss, man. We need you to be on top. We need you to be hot. If you not hot, nobody"s hot, " " Crack detailed. "They felt like, "Yo Joe, when I first met you, when we was doing the J.O.S.E. album and [2002"s] Loyalty, Joe Crack was from the Bronx, he was hard, we couldn"t tell him nothing." They wanted that back; so did some of the blogs. My fans kept on me like, "Joe, we love you, we gonna support you. But we need that Fat Joe the Gangsta." "

Joe jumped in the lab, not only with Cool & Dre, but also the likes of Just Blaze, DJ Premier and newcomer Scoop DeVille to bring him those gutter soundscapes.

"I turn around sometimes and I see you-know-who and other rappers say, "Fat Joe is dead," " the veteran MC began. "I say, "If I"m dead and I come with the first single, "Ha Ha" with Young Jeezy, the hottest rapper in the "hood. Then I come with Trey Songz, the hottest R&B artist [on "If It Ain"t About Money"]. What"s gonna happen when I"m alive?" It"s so crazy to me."

One of the tracks to strike a big chord with fans is "I"m Gone." The song from Vol. 1is a tribute to Gangstarr"s Guru and was produced by Premier. At the end, Joe speaks for several minutes about the late MC"s career.

"It feels like Gangstarr is the purest group in hip-hop," Joe declared. "They was shooting videos on the beach in the winter when the water was ice. Razor-blade music. A bunch of guys in front of the project steps. "Mass Appeal," "Dwyck." "Stick up kids just out to tax ... " It"s just so much, man. When [Guru] passed, and I"m hearing all these rumors, I just wanna kill everybody. I want to shoot the computer, "cause I"m like, "No, this ain"t what we do when our legends, our icons, pass. We salute them. We don"t go for rumors; we salute these dudes." He was an icon, man. It"s the purest group in hip-hop, in my opinion. DJ Premier, this guy is like a god, a walking god. Guru, he put it down legendary.

"Preemo, I was waiting for Preemo to give me a "Ten Crack Commandments" or a shoot "em up, bang bang," he continued, recalling his expectations when he got the track for "I"m Gone." "He sent me the beat when Guru died — the day Guru died. It was a somber ... sad beat. I was like, "Ah, man." I knew where to go with it. It really troubled me and I knew Guru passed away. I knew Preemo was hurting; I been through that with Pun. I knew how it felt. I had to pay homage and salute."

Tuesday night at S.O.B."s in New York, Joe is celebrating his 10th with RapRadar.com, fans and several surprise guests. He"ll be leaving the singles at home, instead performing all of his street hits and of course records from The Darkside.

"My favorite song on my album is "Valley of Death," produced by Cool & Dre. We gonna go to the desert and shoot that video. It"s a record for the streets. It"s a record I could have saw Game doing, saw Kanye doing, something with that real soulful sample. Then I"m talking that "ish," legendary. I love the Just Blaze [track, I"m Crack]. It"s a lot of sick records on the album. Of course Scoop DeVille, "No Problems," that"s gonna paralyze the city when we drop that. We got some gems on the album."

Other Heat This Week: Killer Kyleon -Natural Born Killa
DJ Whiteowl - Whiteowl Drop That 129
DJ Cali: Lil Boosie - Bad Azz Thug
DJ Just Dizle: Redman - Whut The Mix
Swazy Baby - The Future of Hip-Hop

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines or follow the Mixtape Daily team on Twitter: @shaheemreid and @mongosladenyc.

• Mixtape Daily: Fat Joe, Drake

• Fat Joe

"It"s freakin" hot, man!" the singer tells MTV News of 110-degree temps while filming clip for "The Truth."
By Jim Cantiello

Kris Allen shooting his music video for "The Truth"
Photo: Jive Records

There"s an old Hollywood nugget that warns stars against working with animals and children. After enduring a disastrous day of filming his upcoming music video for "The Truth," Kris Allen might suggest you avoid shooting in the desert too. Twelve days ago, the season-eight "American Idol" champ was forced to pull the plug on his latest shoot, thanks to extreme weather that turned the vast, dry California desert into a wet, sticky mess.

"Apparently, in the desert, when it starts raining the ground just turns into mush," Allen told MTV News on Monday night from the set, where production had resumed. That desert "mush" led to quicksand-like conditions that forced the crew to cut their losses and flee for safety.

"It started to monsoon, man! It was crazy. It was one of the biggest storms I"ve ever been in but it was almost kind of fun in a way. We were just standing outside, [but] I felt like we had just jumped in the pool," Allen said.

Nobody got hurt in the sudden storm, but a few (expensive) inanimate objects succumbed to the sinking earth. "Some of [the film trailers] got stuck. We had to leave a piano out here because they couldn"t get it in time," Allen explained. "I"m sure it"s ruined. ... We"ll probably still use it though. Maybe it"ll look cooler."

Perhaps a weathered piano might fit the moody music video"s aesthetic, which Allen described as an abstract dream. (Turns out the piano survived, based on a picture Kris tweeted late Tuesday night.)

The first day of rained-out shooting wasn"t a complete wash, though. Before Mother Nature made her unwelcome cameo, Train singer Pat Monahan finished his portion of the video — in 110-degree heat. (Pat co-wrote the song and warbles a few lines in the single.) The crew also managed to wrap a few setups with Kris.

"I was in the middle of the desert dragging this really heavy chest that is filled with sand," Allen described before joking, "[Then, Pat"s] gonna pop out and sing the bridge."

Luckily Kris, who"s currently on tour supporting the Barenaked Ladies in between a sprinkling of headlining dates, had a day off in Las Vegas. So Allen"s team drove down from the Nevada desert into the California desert to resume taping the video. "It"s freakin" hot, man!" Kris exclaimed. "The bad thing is you don"t sweat, and so you don"t really realize that maybe you should have some water. ... We"re trying to keep hydrated and make sure no one"s passin" out out here."

Despite the drama of rescheduling, the sizzling "Truth" set ran smoothly on Monday.

"We"re moving quick; everything"s getting done. We"ve [finished] some performance shots, just singing and playing the guitar," Allen told us after a few hours of shooting under the direction of noted cinematographer Aaron Platt. ("Live Like We"re Dying" director Marco Puig was under consideration for "The Truth" the last time we spoke with Kris, but ultimately, the video took another direction.)

Fans can look forward to "random" imagery mixed in with performance footage, including a scene that finds the singer using a "magical orb" to get all aggro on a mirror. "Yeah, I have an orb," Allen boasted.

He also has a female co-star, model/actress Cindy Vela, although he didn"t share any scenes with her. "It"s not gonna be, like, us making out with each other or anything like that," Allen explained.

Abstract dream logic, a tortured couple, mysterious locations ... sounds a lot like the summer blockbuster "Inception," which Kris and his wife, Katy, actually caught the day his video shoot was canceled. "Don"t be mad at me but ... apparently 30 minutes into the movie, I [was] pretty tired and I [fell] asleep," the exhausted singer said. But the irony of dreaming during "Inception" was not lost on Kris. Upon waking up, a disoriented Allen quipped, "I felt like Ellen Page for a second."

Fans will have to wait a little bit before they discover whether "The Truth" has the same dreamlike quality of Leonardo DiCaprio"s buzzy hit. "I don"t know how long the post-production stuff takes so hopefully [it"ll debut] pretty soon. [Adding] a digital elephant, that could take awhile," Allen joked. "James Cameron is actually directing this video. It"ll be 3-D, and it"s costing $3 billion. Hope the song does well!"

He may have lost a piano in quicksand, but at least Kris Allen didn"t lose his sense of humor.

Are you excited to see Kris" next video? Tell us in the comments!

• Kris Allen

"It was time to remind the world of the greatest character in TV history," the former "Dawson"s Creek" star jokes to MTV News of Comic-Con also-ran.
By Jocelyn Vena

Joshua Jackson
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty

Among the many big, breaking headlines to come out of Comic-Con in San Diego over the weekend, perhaps the most bizarre was Joshua Jackson holding his own convention, mere feet away from the actual Con. The aptly titled Pacey-Con was devoted to fans of his beloved character, Pacey Witter, and all things "Dawson"s Creek."

In a phone call on Tuesday (July 27) with MTV News — the same day his video documenting the event went live on on Funny or Die — the "Fringe" star chatted about the making of Pacey-Con.

"Well, it came about because I just thought it was time to remind the world of the greatest character in TV history," Jackson joked. "The original concept was, you know, actors are always trying to run away from characters they"ve had in their past. Well, I wanted to do the video that was the exact opposite."

While Jackson"s affection for his character is clear from watching the Funny or Die clip, Pacey fans will quickly notice that Jackson even brought back Pacey"s famous bowling shirt.

"Sadly, it"s a replacement bowling shirt," he admitted. "We couldn"t find any of the original Pacey stuff and I don"t quite have the right hair anymore to go with the Caesar bowl cut from season one, possibly the most embarrassing haircut put on national television."

For any fans that doubted the authenticity of this gathering, the actor revealed that the Pacey-Con fan fiction was the real deal, written by real "Dawson"s" fans. Unfortunately, Comic-Con security wasn"t necessarily convinced: Jackson was thrown out of the San Diego event.

"The security guards who threw me out of the actual Comic-Con were not big "Dawson"s Creek" fans. ... We only showed it once, but I actually got thrown out twice," he said. "They were not having it at all. If you don"t have a pass, there"s no love."

There was lots of love, however, from Comic-Con visitors. "The whole scenario was strange, and I have to say I was dually impressed because I can"t imagine a crowd that was less likely to be "Dawson"s Creek" fans than the Comic-Con crowd, but they went along with it," he explained.

So, will we see more Pacey-Cons in the future?

"Absolutely! Bigger and better! Can"t stop it now. It"s a force that cannot be denied. It might not be true, but let me live with my illusion," he laughed, adding, "If I see a Jen-Con 2011, it"s on! We"ll have to do a Con-off. We"ll have to do competing Cons!" he joked about a convention dedicated to the character played by Hollywood actress Michelle Williams.

Now that we"ve seen Jackson in his full Pacey wardrobe again, it leaves us wondering if a "Dawson"s Creek" reunion is in the works.

"I think I"m just going to start the rumor because ["DC" director] Kevin Williamson was actually there, so the rumor should be that we were actually there plotting the 2011 revival of "DC," " he joked. "Pacey"s done his time, though. I want first billing! I"m done with this "Dawson"s Creek" bullsh--."

Are you dying to see a "Dawson"s Creek" reunion? Tell us in the comments!

• MTV Rough Cut: Comic-Con 2010 Edition

"I want to have the experience of the fear and feel [Bella"s] pain," Melissa Rosenberg says at San Diego Comic-Con.
By Terri Schwartz

Melissa Rosenberg
Photo: MTV News

SAN DIEGO — For the first time since 2007, there was no official "Twilight" presence at the Comic-Con panels this year. But screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg was in attendance, and she was more than willing to take a break from the convention to chat with MTV News about her upcoming work on "Breaking Dawn." The two films are set to start shooting back-to-back in November, and Rosenberg said she is still working on finalizing the script.

Fans have been most concerned with how Bella"s (Kristen Stewart) pivotal, not to mention traumatic, birthing scene will be portrayed in the movie, and Rosenberg said she and director Bill Condon are continually revising the script to make it work. Despite an earlier comment, she said the scene will be included, but the specifics of how it will be represented have not been solidified yet.

"I"ve written and continue to rewrite it, working on it with Bill Condon ... He has a vision as well, but it"s kind of a shared vision I would say, but ultimately it comes down to, what does he actually want to see?" she said. "I know what I want to see, which is, I want to see the terror of the experience. I want to have the experience of the fear and feel her pain. I want to feel everyone"s pain in this."

Still, Rosenberg said that there are some of the gruesome elements of the scene — like Edward (Robert Pattinson) having to give Bella what has been dubbed a "vampire caesarian" — that she doesn"t think need to be included in the scene. "I want it to be visceral, so that is what"s most important. Do I want to see teeth in placenta? No," she said. "Someone else may. I don"t actually want to see that, but to each his own."

Another of the other big scenes in "Breaking Dawn" that has been the subject of some controversy is the imprinting scene. It features Jacob (Taylor Lautner) having what Rosenberg describes as a "spiritual experience" with Bella"s newborn child that ultimately leads to the revelation that the infant is his soul mate.

"One must be very careful with that," Rosenberg said about the scene, "but hopefully you"ve taken this ride with Jacob for all four movies; you know Jacob, and so I think you"ll experience it the way he does, which is spiritually, as a spiritual experience, as an emotional experience and not something that makes one uncomfortable."

Check out everything we"ve got on "Breaking Dawn."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

• "Twilight" Stars Talk "Breaking Dawn"

"You"re gonna see Sinestro. You"re gonna see Tomar-Re. You"re gonna see Kilowog. You"re gonna see Bzzd," Reynolds says.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Ryan Reynolds

Behold, Ryan Reynolds in all his Green Lantern glory! We got our first look at the fighter pilot-turned superhero earlier this month, complete with glowing green suit, Lantern logo and pulsing power ring. Then at Comic-Con over the weekend, we glimpsed Reynolds in action, as DC Comics unleashed the first-ever footage from the upcoming big screen adaptation.

As devoted comic geeks know, however, Reynolds" character — the pilot Hal Jordan, who transforms into a superhero thanks to his all-powerful ring — is not the only Lantern in the universe. Rather, he is but one hero in the Green Lantern Corps, a crew of intergalactic peacekeepers. And speaking with MTV News at the Con, Reynolds revealed exactly which other Lanterns will pop up in the film when it opens on June 17, 2011.

"You"re gonna see Sinestro. You"re gonna see Tomar-Re. You"re gonna see Kilowog. You"re gonna see Bzzd," Reynolds told us.

We"ve already got a first look at Sinestro (Mark Strong), the purple-skinned alien mentor to Jordan. And the Comic-Con footage showed us the alien Tomar-Re for the first time. [But the news that Bzzd — an insect Lantern killed off in the current DC Universe — will be in the film came as a welcome surprise.

Later at the panel, producer Donald De Line added to the list of Lanterns: Salaak, Boodikka and Green Man. That"s a lot of superheroes to handle, but Reynolds has supreme confidence in the talents and vision of director Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale").

"He"s less of the director and more of a general," Reynolds told us earlier. "He just really knows strategies, he knows the intricacies, and his attention to detail! It"s infectious. I sat down with him, and I could not even believe what he was saying. When I went to the meeting, I was entirely cynical. I thought, "What the hell, I"ll see what they have to say," and I left the room with a completely different perspective."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

• MTV Rough Cut: "Green Lantern"

Bernardo claims the show "exploited ... my sexual orientation" and instructed him to "gay it up."
By Gil Kaufman

Ian Bernardo
Photo: Fox

If you watched this year"s "American Idol" finale, you"ll likely remember the moment when it seemed like things had gone completely off the rails. Comedian Dane Cook was singing a jokey homage to departing judge Simon Cowell when all of a sudden a parade of some of the legendary "Idol" misfits tumbled onto the stage in what has become a time-honored tradition on the final show of every season.

Only this time, reject Ian Benardo took things too far, mic-jacking a surprised-looking Cook and spewing off a string of incomprehensible Cowell-baiting, self-promoting blather before producers quickly cut to commercial.

Well, Benardo, not content to be shut down, has reportedly filed a $300 million lawsuit against the show, claiming that he was threatened by Cook and that producers caused him emotional distress and loss of employment opportunities through their handling of the situation.

According to TMZ, Benardo filed a suit with the New York State Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in which he claims that Cook personally threatened him after the show and that an unnamed "Idol" producer told Benardo that the comedian wanted to "shove this mic up your ass but you would like it."

And while he was upset with the alleged harsh treatment he suffered during the finale, Benardo claims in the suit that the conflict started in 2006 when he first auditioned for "Idol." At that time, Benardo claims that producers "exploited ... my sexual orientation" by instructing the outrageous "So You Think You Can Dance" wannabe to "gay it up."

When he was invited back for this year"s finale, Benardo says that producers gave him similar instructions to act "outrageous" and "gay," which inspired him to snatch the mic from Cook. The comedian was none too pleased with Benardo"s move, calling him out on Twitter by writing, "If you missed it I got Kanye"d on "American Idol." Wild ... Luckily at the end of the song ... that was not staged. Weirdo hijacked the song. Just glad he didn"t hit me in the face with the mic or "American Idol" would be "American Beatdown ... Weirdo = f---face."

Though Cook kept his cool onstage, in the suit, Benardo claims that the comedian and his manager were angry about the incident and that "Idol" producers warned Benardo that he should exit the building right away because he was "not safe."

Benardo says he"s suffered emotional injuries and loss of employment opportunities as a result and is seeking $300 million in restitution. Fox, the network that airs "American Idol," had no comment. A spokesperson for Dane Cook could not be reached for comment at press time.

"Maybe by 2015 we"ll let him take a small part in a crappy movie," Howard Bragman says, but adds Gibson"s Hollywood career may be over.
By Gil Kaufman

Mel Gibson
Photo: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

There"s little doubt about whether the ranting, raving, expletive-spewing voice heard on the now-infamous series of tapes released by Radar Online is that of former Hollywood icon Mel Gibson. The "Lethal Weapon" star"s representatives have not disputed — nor have they confirmed — that it is their client hurling racist and sexist invective at ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. The only real question remaining is when, or even whether, Gibson, 50, can possibly bounce back from his latest scandal.

Crisis management and public relations guru Howard Bragman of PR firm Fifteen Minutes said, for the time being anyway, Gibson"s focus should not be on his public image or career, but on weathering the legal storm and dealing with whatever issues are fueling his emotional outbursts.

"If Mel wants to have some sort of life again he needs to number one, play out his legal hand," said Bragman, who consulted for actor Isaiah Washington after the actor was accused of using a gay slur against former "Grey"s Anatomy" co-star T.R. Knight. "His legal hand far outweighs his PR hand right now and his PR problem." Gibson, who has been accused of using homophobic and anti-Semitic language in the past, has not commented on the tapes.

After one taped phone conversation captured Gibson allegedly threatening Grigorieva"s life and then apparently offering an apology for physically attacking her while she held their then-two-month-old baby, the Los Angeles County Sheriff"s Department launched a domestic violence investigation, which is currently under way. A probe into allegations of extortion on Grigorieva"s part has also been opened.

Asked if he thought Gibson was receiving an unfair amount of criticism for the shocking content of the tapes, Bragman responded, "If the tapes are true, then clearly his girlfriend was getting unfairly treated and the baby was getting unfairly treated."

And, assuming Gibson does not get charged with any crimes, accused of anything else or locked up, Bragman said the actor will have to undertake some serious soul-searching to try and understand what fueled the rage on the tapes, in which a hyperventilating, shouting Gibson often sounds on the edge of losing control as Grigorieva urges him to seek therapy to deal with his anger.

"Then you have to get at the root causes and say, "Where does this anger stem from?" " he said. "Do a lot of therapy, go to anger management, go to rehab if there"s drugs or other substances involved and then try, if enough time passes, for some cathartic moment. Some sort of volunteer work, some sort of interview and then maybe by 2015 we"ll let him take a small part in a crappy movie."

Gibson was swiftly dropped by his longtime talent agency in the wake of the tapes, and the fate of his upcoming slate of movies appears to be in the air at the moment, but not everyone in Hollywood has rushed to write him off. Considering that Gibson has a massive war chest and has his own production company, Icon, which has financed such blockbusters as "The Passion of the Christ," it"s possible he could continue to work as a director and producer without necessarily having to face the gauntlet of a press tour to promote a movie.

Bragman, however, who often preaches the gospel of "time plus distance and contrition equals forgiveness," isn"t so sure. "I think Mel Gibson is not going to have a mainstream Hollywood career again."

Do you think Mel Gibson can bounce back from this? Leave your comments below.