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Mad Max got the ax. Mel Gibson won’t be reprising his role in Netflix’s highly anticipated “Chicken Run” sequel, sources with knowledge of the production told TheWrap. The decision comes after Winona Ryder accused the 64-year-old “Braveheart” star Sunday of leveling anti-Semitic remarks at her during a 1995 Hollywood soiree — and subsequent calls for …
Mad Max got the ax.
Mel Gibson won’t be reprising his role in Netflix’s highly anticipated “Chicken Run” sequel, sources with knowledge of the production told TheWrap. The decision comes after Winona Ryder accused the 64-year-old “Braveheart” star Sunday of leveling anti-Semitic remarks at her during a 1995 Hollywood soiree — and subsequent calls for his cancellation on social media.
The Oscar-winning director’s reps have since denied Ryder’s allegations in an emailed statement to The Post. “This is 100% untrue,” they said, claiming also that the “Stranger Things” star lied in the 2010 GQ article in which she first mentioned the alleged incident.
Ryder claims that when the topic of Jewish faith came up in conversation, the “Mad Max” actor said, “You’re not an oven dodger, are you?” — apparently meaning a Jewish prisoner nearly incinerated in a Nazi death camp.
In the original “Chicken Run” from 2000, Gibson played “Rocky,” a plucky clucker who helped his fine-feathered friends fly the coop before it could be turned into a chicken pot pie factory.
The “chick”-flick became the highest-grossing stop-motion-animation film of all time when it came out, and secured BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.
It’s unclear if the rest of the original cast, which includes Julia Sawalha, Phil Daniels, Imelda Staunton and Timothy Spall, will be returning to the 20-years-in-the-making sequel.
However, filling the director’s chair is Sam Fell, who directed Dreamworks’ and Aardman’s 2006 animated comedy “Flushed Away.”
Production on the second coming of “Chicken Run” is slated to begin next year, according to Netflix.
