But I know enough. It's all money. If people see gratuitous violence in any of the Lethal Weapon movies, I wonder if they've seen the same movie. That's my obligation. I brought social issues into the Lethal Weapon movies, like when Danny Glover's family comes down on him for eating tuna, or the 'Stamp out the NRA' sign up in the LA police station.
Movies do provoke.
I won't do gratuitous or animal violence. We went a little too far in the first Lethal Weapon, but I wanted to move more after that toward a less real and more comic-book effect, despite the great reaction we had. Public trust comes into filmmaking. The filmmaker is ultimately accountable. I can defend my own work only on personal grounds.