Andrew Garfield recently told People magazine that Mel Gibson “deserves to make movies” and has “done a lot of beautiful healings with himself.” Gibson’s Hollywood career plummeted after his infamous 2006 DUI arrest, during which the “Braveheart” Oscar winner made comments disparaging Jewish people. Gibson directed Garfield in the 2016 war drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” for which Garfield was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. The filmmaker received a nomination for best director.

“I actually learned a lot. I learned that people can heal. I learned that people can change, that people can get help. I learned that everyone deserves respect,” Garfield replied when People asked what he learned from making “Hacksaw Ridge” with Gibson. “And that people deserve second chances, third chances, fourth chances. That none of us are infallible.”

“He has done many wonderful healings on himself,” Garfield added. ‘And thank God. Because he’s a great filmmaker, and I think he deserves to make movies. He deserves to tell stories because he has a very, very big, compassionate heart. He’s the kind of director who comes out from behind the monitors, only with wet eyes. He knew when it was right and he knew when it was wrong. And I just really trusted him. And he’s a deep-rooted storyteller, so he can feel… It’s like he can feel everything. He is a real empathetic man.”

Gibson only recently returned to the director’s chair for the first time since “Hacksaw Ridge” with the upcoming thriller “Flight Risk,” starring Mark Wahlberg. The film will hit theaters in 2025. Although he continued to act in the years after his arrest in 2006, it was rarely in Hollywood bigwigs or studio films.

After his arrest in 2006, Gibson issued a lengthy apology for his comments about the Jewish people, saying: “There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or makes any form of anti-Semitic comment.”

“I would like to apologize to everyone in the Jewish community for the vicious and harmful words I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested for driving under the influence,” he added at the time. I am a public person, and when I say something, articulate and thoughtful, or blurt it out in a moment of madness, my words have weight in the public arena. As a result, I must take personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who were hurt and offended by these words.”

Gibson’s “Flight Risk” will be released on January 24, 2025 by Lionsgate. Garfield currently stars opposite Florence Pugh in the A24 romantic drama “We Live in Time,” now in select theaters.