LOS ANGELES??You have to forgive me,? said controversial actor-director Mel Gibson at the start of this press con, in which he discussed his ?public humiliation? stemming from a ?driving under the influence? arrest in 2006. He also talked about surviving cigarette smoking withdrawal symptoms, which supposedly include murderous thoughts.

?I?m kind of jumpy because I always give up smoking before I do [interviews],? he said. ?If I fail to find the correct word now and then, please forgive me. It has been seven days since I stopped smoking.? Mel was on edge, all right; we?ll blame that on nicotine withdrawal.

It has been four years since the DUI arrest, when he reportedly went into an anti-Semitic rant, but it still hounds him. It hasn?t helped that, in two interviews with TV reporters to promote ?Edge of Darkness,? his return to acting after eight years, he made comments that landed him in the news again.

And there?s the tabloid fodder development in his personal life. Mel, 54, and his wife Robyn are divorcing after almost 30 years. His girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, 39, gave birth to a girl, the actor?s eighth child, last November.

Martin Campbell (?Casino Royale?) directs the film version of ?Edge ?? which he earlier helmed as a BBC TV series. In the action-packed drama, Mel portrays an avenging cop, with Ray Winstone as an operative who may or may not be his ally.

In his other coming film, ?The Beaver,? Mel is reunited with ?Maverick? co-star, Jodie Foster, who also directs. In the following interview excerpts, Mel also talks about his untitled film about the Vikings with Leonardo DiCaprio.

You were quoted in a men?s journal about how you lived through humiliation on a global scale for a while. What was that like?

Ask any person what is their No. 1 fear. What do you think they?d say?

Public humiliation?

Yeah. Now multiply that to a global scale. I am one tough (too colorful to print in a family newspaper) right now because you can?t bother me anymore.

What did you learn from that experience?

What doesn?t kill you and put you under makes you stronger. It?s real simple.

Did you rethink your art while on a break? Why did you decide to come back with this movie (?Edge?)?

I had an old acting teacher who said that one of the best things you can do to keep yourself fresh in your chosen sphere of artistic expertise is to go away from it for a while and do something else before you return to it. The pause alone will inform the choices that you make.

Why this movie? Why not? It?s compelling and intelligent.

Your character and Ray Winstone?s have a strange connection even though they are adversaries.

It?s like when dogs meet in a park and it?s like, ?Grrrrr.? Then they check each other out [which ends in a] grudging respect for who the other is.

Are you still planning to write and direct?

Oh, absolutely. I just finished writing something with a couple of guys I worked with on ?Apocalypto.? We?re going to shoot that in Mexico. I?m also working with Graham King, who produced this movie. Bill Monahan, Leo DiCaprio and I already had several meetings. We?re going to make the ultimate Viking movie. I?ve never seen a Viking movie that does it for me, so I decided to make a Viking movie that will do it for me (laughter), that will scare the living s**t out of you.

What?s the movie?s title?

I don?t know yet. Why don?t we call it ?Berserk? or something?

You have a little girl now and you had one 30 years ago. How different an experience is that now that you are in your 50s?

There?s no gift like a gift of young life. There are no words to describe that. [But] I?m older and I look at it in a profounder way, just through years and wisdom. The beauty of having done it when I was young and now, when I?m old, is that I can look back and still experience all of that.

How hands-on are you?

One must be necessarily hands-on. That?s part of the bonding experience.

Can you talk about ?The Beaver? which is directed by Jodie Foster?

I love Jodie. She?s been a friend for years. She?s a very decisive, intelligent actress and director. She got a script that everybody said, ?Wow, somebody should make this film? but nobody would. Well, she did, and she asked me to do it. She didn?t go the obvious way with it, which is good. She had a vision and she stuck with it. She took me along for that ride and I helped her as best as I could, like a good soldier. I hope we made a good film. It felt good.

What is it about?

It?s about a guy who?s clinically depressed. He can?t even kill himself. He ends up with a ratty hand puppet of a beaver and he expresses himself through this puppet. It?s pretty interesting.

How do you stay grounded?

Simple things. You can?t do anything else except live in the moment. That?s the way to exist. Don?t fear the future. Leave it in the hands of providence and don?t regret the past too hard.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.