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Mel Gibson.

John Gibson filed for divorce from his wife in June, citing irreconcilable differences. In her filing, Teddy Gibson claims she does not know why and needs the restraining order to talk to him without Mel Gibson present. 

In a sworn statement with the filing, Teddy Gibson claims there are "a lot of questions about (John Gibson's) filing of divorce against me, and (I) need to speak directly to my husband without Mel's interference so that I can make sure both he is OK and not being manipulated by Mel or into a course of action he does not wish to take." 

A spokesman for the actor had no comment on the request for a restraining order. 

This new action is the latest against Gibson, 56, to highlight anger issues since he was stopped by a California policeman in 2006 for driving under the influence of alcohol and launched into a rant that included an anti-semitic statement. 

More recently, he and former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva waged a bitter custody battle over their infant daughter during which tapes of telephone messages surfaced in the media on which Gibson can be heard yelling and screaming at Grigorieva. 

In March 2011, Gibson admitted in court that he slapped Grigorieva with an open hand during an argument, and he pleaded no contest to domestic violence -- the equivalent of guilty in California. He was sentenced to three years probation.

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EPA, Getty Images

Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hanks.

A bold claim sits in the midst of a lengthy new piece in The New Yorker about Ben Stiller, "Funny is Money: Ben Stiller and the dilemma of modern stardom." The author, Tad Friend, contends that "plenty of people who were big stars 10 years ago now are not." Fair enough on the surface, right? Well, take a look at the list Friend posits: Keanu Reeves, Mel Gibson, Demi Moore, Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon, Russell Crowe, Nicolas Cage, John Travolta.

Someone deigns to suggest that Tom Hanks is no longer a star? What? And why are we counting down the days until Witherspoon has her third baby if she's not a star? Friend's proclamation seems to exist where two main tenets -- the definition of a star and the perception of who is a star -- intersect. "A star, to the industry, is someone who can dependably get a film to 'open,'" Friend wrote. "A star to the rest of us, is the person our eyes are always drawn to on screen."

To that end, some of the names on the list do make sense. Demi Moore, sure. Her last big film, "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" was definitely a disappointment, and she hasn't had top billing on anything substantial since "G.I. Jane."

Reeves is almost 10 years removed from "Matrix Revolutions" and "Matrix Reloaded," which both opened in 2003 and made a combined $420 million domestically. But, "Revolutions" made only $48 million its opening weekend, perhaps an indicator that he wasn't carrying films like he once was.

Crowe is a slightly more complicated case: "3:10 to Yuma" in 2007 definitely didn't light the box office on fire (it grossed only $70 million worldwide) but doesn't the film's two Academy Award nominations count for something? (On a side note, Crowe does have nearly half a million Twitter followers. If Crowe and the studios he's working with can harness this following for any of the five films he's got coming up between now and 2014, maybe his star rises somewhat?)

Mel Gibson, with all his ancillary controversies might be in a category all his own, but even if you set his temper aside and look at the numbers, Gibson hasn't had a film open at the No. 1 spot since "Signs" in 2002. It seems certain that Gibson has become more spectacle than star and once the scales tip in that direction, it's tough to get them back.

The names on the list that maybe deserve some special dispensation are Witherspoon, Cage and Hanks. As Witherspoon's pregnancy tracking proves, you can still have star quality without a massive box office hit. Her most recent film, "Water for Elephants"  "This Means War" made $54 million domestically, but if you look at her last 10 years' worth of films, even the biggest hit, "Sweet Home Alabama," was only a $127 million movie. We aren't talking about a leading actress who was opening billion-dollar franchises and suddenly isn't covering the budget. Witherspoon is just a solid, steady star (with an Oscar under her belt) which will likely give her career serious longevity.

As for Cage: his "Saturday Night Live" persona might be the most interesting thing he's got going right now, but that's just here in the United States, where his films don't do nearly as well as they do internationally. Did you see "Season of the Witch"? Me neither, but enough people saw it in foreign markets that it earned $66 million there, while the film only made $24 million at home.

And then there's Tom Hanks. The man who made "Big" big, and led "Toy Story" to hold the title of most successful animation franchise, ever -- he will always be a star, even if "Larry Crowne" was unwatchable for vast, vast swaths of the population. And maybe that's the thing about stardom: once yours shines brightly enough, it never totally fizzles out. If you are able to remain "the person our eyes are always drawn to on screen," what's on the screen isn't always of paramount importance.

What do you think? Have you scratched Hanks off your star list, or is there someone who deserves to be on the list who isn't? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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NBC

Mel Gibson spoke out about his recent drama on "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on April 27.

Mel Gibson has been relatively quiet since screenwriter Joe Eszterhas accused him of being anti-Semitic and released tapes of the star raging and screaming profanities. But Gibson is finally speaking out ... and with some humor.

On Friday, the actor appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and brought up all the drama with the "Maccabees" scribe. "You know, I love coming to 'The Tonight Show' because when I get here and you tape me, you let me know you're going to do that up front!" Gibson joked.

The actor admitted that he had been "peeved" at Eszterhas over the delay of the script and had indeed yelled at the writer.

"Was it just you swearing at the guy?" Leno asked in regards to the secretly taped tirade.

"Yeah, pretty much!" Gibson said. "You know, maybe you don't know this about me, but I've got a little bit of a temper."

The actor also told Leno that even though the situation has made him angry, it was OK because the last few years had been so odd for him. "It's like living in a bad B movie," Gibson said of all the drama in his life. "From slipping on a banana peel in your driveway to sort of midnight phone calls ... how did I get here?! It is bizarre!"

See what else he had to say about the Eszterhas situation and what he does to relax:

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"The Maccabees" started out as a collaboration between two Hollywood veterans — Mel Gibson as director and producer; "Basic Instinct" and "Flashdance" writer Joe Eszterhas taking on the script. But it has devolved into a war of words now that a letter Eszterhas wrote to Gibson accusing him of anti-Semitism has been made public.

But there's more story to be told, as Eszterhas shared with TODAY's Ann Curry on Friday via satellite. He has a tape of a "violent" and "threatening harangue" Gibson made before Eszterhas' son.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with (it)," he said.

While the problems between the writer and the director have only recently come to light, Eszterhas said he has made an effort to keep his distance from Gibson for some time."One of the first red lights" Eszterhas said he got about Gibson's anti-Semitism came when Gibson told him "he wanted to do a movie ... that would convert the Jews to Christianity. That's not 'The Maccabees,'" said Eszterhas. "The piece I wrote is the Jewish 'Braveheart.' I'm proud of it."

Warner Bros. didn't agree that the film was worthy and rejected the script, which then apparently kicked off the current altercation. A letter from Gibson to Eszterhas said the script was "substandard" and said Eszterhas' allegations are "utter fabrications."

Eszterhas' letter was not initially meant for public eyes, but The Wrap got hold of it (the full text is available here) and broke the story on Wednesday.

Other issues, aside from the anti-Semitism, made Eszterhas concerned while working with Gibson: "Mel shared with (Eszterhaus' son) a pornographic scenario that I can only call sexual butchery that he fantasized in terms of (Gibson's ex-wife) Oxsana.... To put that imagery in a 15-year-old boy's head I think is heinous, I think it's vile and I think it's unforgivable."

He added that his son took to sleeping with a butcher knife under his pillow, he was so frightened of Gibson.

"I'm not the first person who has describe this behavior," said Eszterhas. "I didn't go public (with this) ... 'The Wrap' found my letter and then Mel denied it, and I'm not going to stand for people calling me a liar."

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© Pool New / Reuters / REUTERS

Mel Gibson

It turns out Mel Gibson's movie about biblical Jewish hero Judah Maccabee has hit a bit of a snag.

"You hate Jews," "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls" scribe Joe Eszterhas, tasked with writing the since-rejected screenplay for Gibson's latest passion project, accuses the reputation-challenged star in a memo obtained by the Wrap.

In the nine-page letter, Eszterhas states that Gibson pitched the "The Maccabees" solely "to deflect continuing charges of anti-Semitism which have dogged (him), charges which have crippled (his) career," and then made anti-Semitic remarks throughout the writing process.

Not surprisingly, Gibson fired back just hours later, calling Eszterhas' claims "utter fabrications."

MORE: Mel Gibson: Beyond anger management

"I will acknowledge like most creative people I am passionate and intense," Gibson replies in a letter obtained by E! News. "I was very frustrated that when you arrived at my home at the expense of both Warner Brothers and myself you hadn't written a single word of a script or even an outline after 15 months of research, meetings, discussions and the outpouring of my heartfelt vision for this story. I did react more strongly than I should have. I promptly sent you a written apology, the colorful words of which you apparently now find offensive. Let me now clearly apologize to you and your family in the simplest of terms."

In his letter, Eszterhas claimed that Gibson continually referred to Jews in front of him as "Hebes," "oven-dodgers" and "Jewboys"; called the Holocaust "mostly a lot of horse(expletive)"; and said his intention with "The Maccabees" -- a controversy magnet the moment it was announced--was "to convert the Jews to Christianity."

MORE: Mel Gibson isn't the only one: Five other pricey Hollywood divorces

Gibson, who wrote that he refused to address Eszterhas' missive line-by-line, also wrote: "Contrary to your assertion that I was only developing 'Maccabees' to burnish my tarnished reputation, I have been working on this project for over 10 years and it was publicly announced 8 years ago. I absolutely want to make this movie; it's just that neither Warner Brothers nor I want to make this movie based on your script."

The actor-director maintained that both he and the studio were "extremely disappointed" with Eszterhas' draft -- which Eszterhas claims he spent two years researching and writing.

GALLERY: Movies from the future!

The writer, who also penned the war-crimes trial drama "The Music Box," is asking Gibson to return his script, which could be shopped elsewhere since Warner Bros. rejected it.

But all is not lost.

"We are analyzing what to do with the project," a studio rep tells E! News.

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Warner Bros.

Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in 1987's

Twenty-five years ago today, the buddy cop movie was born.

Sure, other movies had police officers who were friends -- "Dragnet," anyone?  But on March 6, 1987, "Lethal Weapon" hit theaters and the genre would never be the same.

Mel Gibson (years before his many controversial remarks) and Danny Glover played the mismatched partners, with Glover as a steady family man and Gibson as the wild man who walks into a hail of gunfire and steps out on ledges because he really doesn't care if he lives or dies. 

The film, the first in what would become a hit series, earned four out of four stars from Roger Ebert, who wrote that the film "thrilled me from beginning to end."

"Lethal Weapon" naturally inspired plenty of similar movies, in which partners of many differing temperments and backgrounds teamed up to fight crime. Some also became classics ("Bad Boys"). Some did well, but turned into a punchline ("Turner & Hooch," which paired Tom Hanks with a dog). Some made such a star out of one character that they're rarely thought of as buddy-cop movies, though they fit the genre ("Beverly Hills Cop").

The concept can still work in the 2000s -- see Simon Pegg's "Hot Fuzz" for proof.

But it's hard to find a film that did it better than Gibson and Glover back in the mid-1980s, when U2's "Joshua Tree" was the hot album, gas cost less than a dollar a gallon and "Alf" was an enormously popular TV show.

At one point, a sergeant tells Glover's character, "The guys of the 80s aren't tough. They are sensitive people." Oh no no no. These '80s guys were tough, and also crazy.

What's your favorite buddy cop movie? Vote in our poll, and tell us on Facebook. 

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