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Mel Gibson, star of "The Road Warrior" and "Lethal Weapon," will play the title role in a new film production of "Hamlet" to be directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Gibson said he wants to bring Shakespeare to as wide an audience as possible. "I would like to make (`Hamlet') extremely accessible," Gibson said. "There's no point in doing anything for an elite. I love Shakespeare and I always have. But when I was in school, I didn't think it was accessible at all. It wasn't really taught to me properly," he said. "But there's no great mystery to Shakespeare. There's love, hate, passion, sex and violence. It's all there." Gibson said he last performed Shakespeare in Australia 10 years ago, when he co-starred in "Romeo and Juliet." This is his first Shakespearean film role. Zeffirelli directed the acclaimed 1968 film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." "Hamlet" will be produced by Dyson Lovell, who just brought "Lonesome Dove" to CBS television. Additional casting on "Hamlet" was not revealed. The movie is scheduled to begin filming in spring 1990.

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