Andrew Garfield recently told People magazine that Mel Gibson “deserves to make films” and has “done a lot of beautiful healing with himself.” Gibson’s career in Hollywood nosedived after his infamous DUI arrest in 2006, which included the “Braveheart” Oscar winner making comments disparaging Jewish people. Gibson directed Garfield in the 2016 war drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” for which Garfield was Oscar nominated for best actor. The filmmaker landed a best director nom.

“I learned a lot, actually. I learned that people can heal. I learned that people can change, that people can get help. I learned that everyone deserves respect,” Garfield answered 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’s done a lot of beautiful healing with himself,” Garfield added. “And thank God. Because he’s an amazing filmmaker, and I think he deserves to make films. He deserves to tell stories, because he has a very, very big, compassionate heart. He’s the kind of director that would come from behind the monitors, just with his eyes wet. He knew when it was right and he knew when it wasn’t right. And I just really trusted him. And he’s a visceral storyteller so he can feel… He’s like he can’t help but feel everything. He’s a real empathetic guy.”

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 movie opens in theaters in 2025. While he continued to act in the years after his 2006 arrest, it was rarely in major Hollywood tentpoles or studio films.

Following his arrest in 2006, Gibson issued a lengthy apology for his comments about Jewish people and said “there is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of antisemitic remark.”

“I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge,” he added at the time. I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.”

Gibson’s “Flight Risk” is set for release on Jan. 24, 2025 from Lionsgate. Garfield, meanwhile, currently stars opposite Florence Pugh in the A24 romantic drama “We Live in Time,” now playing in select theaters.