Mel Gibson justifies lashing out at screenwriter Joe Eszterhas

New York, Apr 29 (ANI): Mel Gibson has said that he has "a bit of a temper" in an interview with Jay Leno on the 'Tonight Show' Friday.

The 'Braveheart' star told the talk show host that he was justified in unleashing a stream of expletives against screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.

"Has it really come to the place where you can't blow off steam in your own home, even if you're justified?" the New York Daily News quoted the actor as saying.

It was the first time Gibson publicly addressed the foul-mouthed tirade after a recording of it was leaked online earlier this month.

Eszterhas' teen son reportedly taped the expletive-heavy tirade during a December trip to Gibson's private Costa Rica estate.

Gibson, 56, said that he lost his cool because Eszterhas hadn't produced the screenplay for their joint film project 'The Maccabees'.

"It's kind of like you build a house, you hire a guy to put a roof on it, he comes over and eats lunch and talks about the roof and then you get rained on all night.

"Wouldn't you be kind of peeved?" he told Leno.

Gibson said that Eszterhas eventually did come up with a script, but it was "so bad that Warner Brothers rejected it."

"Maybe you don't know this about me, I have a bit of a temper," he said. (ANI)