HIS WAY; WHEN MEL GIBSON WIELDS THE POWER ON A PROJECT, HE'S NEVER AFRAID TO USE IT.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Daily News Film Writer

The anger has always been there. It's not like you had to look hard to find it. It's even incorporated into the name of one of his most famous alter egos, Mad Max. The anger follows him, too. Mel Gibson rarely goes anywhere these days without some appreciative lunatic shouting at the top of his lungs, ``GIVE ME BACK MY SON!'' the fuming catch-phrase Gibson spewed a couple of years ago in ``Ransom.''

But in his nasty new movie, ``Payback,'' Gibson has taken his madness to such an outrageous level that even he is wondering just how audiences are going to react. His character, Porter, is a pigheaded petty thief straight out of a Peckinpah movie. When an accomplice double-crosses Porter and leaves him for dead, he boils over and goes after his enemies (and his share of the loot) with a single-minded viciousness that would turn Dirty Harry a whiter shade of pale.

``When I was making `Braveheart,' I remember thinking that some of the footage might have been too gory,'' Gibson, 43, says of the movie that won him Oscars for directing and producing. ``And then when I showed it to an audience, and they were going for the vomit bags, I kind of knew for sure. But I don't think there was one excessive frame in that movie - not even when I took the ball and chain to that guy's face.'' Gibson pauses and lets out a throaty laugh.

`` `Payback,' '' Gibson continues, ``is a different animal. There's this perverse mix of brutality and whimsy that most people get, but you do wonder because it's way out there. It's a tricky balance. It's like those old Don Siegel movies (`Coogan's Bluff,' `Dirty Harry'), but since it's 25, 30 years later, we push the envelope a bit more. It's complete, utter nihilism but with a funny sensibility. I don't know, maybe people will think it's just completely sick and twisted.''

If audiences do recoil or complain, don't think Gibson's feelings will be hurt. After all, he made ``Payback'' on a goof, and it only cost some 20-odd million to make. This isn't ``Lethal Weapon IV.'' (Or I, II or III for that matter.) What it is - and Gibson, one of the least self-analytical people on the planet, would screw his face into a knot at the mere mention of this - is a glimpse into the actor's psyche, the dark side of Mel, if you will.

``He is somewhere an incredibly dark person, an incredibly angry guy,'' says Jodie Foster, who has remained close to Gibson since they made ``Maverick'' together. ``So he's not a saint.''

Not that he ever claimed to be. In fact, Gibson is the great loose cannon among movie stars, the actor most likely to make an angry screed. ``He is able to convey pure rage better than anyone I know,'' says ``Ransom'' director Ron Howard. ``Where that comes from, I'm not sure. But I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of it.''

Those who have felt Gibson's wrath surely don't forget it. In ``Braveheart,'' there's a scene where an angry mob pelts Gibson's character, freedom fighter William Wallace, with all manner of produce. The extras took a little too much pleasure in their work, prompting Gibson to halt filming and scream at those assembled, ``If I find out who's doing this, I'll cut his balls off.'' Needless to say, the next head of cabbage wasn't thrown quite so hard.

``I'm terribly vindictive,'' Gibson admitted once. ``If someone ripped me apart in the press, I'd kill them. I would have them killed and no one would ever know.'' He went on to describe an Australian pesticide, 1080, that was odorless, colorless and tasteless and able to deliver an instant brain hemorrhage with just one teaspoon.

Of course, Gibson can be famously charming, too, an observation I'm not just making in order to keep my brain from bleeding out of my ears. (Besides, he was probably joking about that 1080 thing. Really.) During a recent conversation we had while watching the Jets and the Broncos in the AFC Championship game (more anger, more violence!), Gibson glibly tossed off thoughts on a number of topics, including:

Why he isn't making a big-screen version of ``Hogan's Heroes,'' despite press reports to the contrary: ``Are you kidding? That's a bad idea whose time has not come.''

Why he did make another ``Lethal Weapon'' film despite saying for years that he wouldn't: ``It was a Pavlovian response to being locked in a room with (director) Dick Donner and (producer) Joel Silver. After tossing out a bunch of funny ideas, they rang the bell, and I started drooling, begging for more. And I think it turned out pretty OK.''

He didn't mince any words either about the problems he had with rookie director Brian Helgeland, the man he had to dismiss from ``Payback.'' This came after Gibson saw the rough cut of the movie, suggested some changes and asked Helgeland to make them. When Helgeland (who wrote Gibson's ``Conspiracy Theory'') declined, Gibson took matters into in his own hands, hiring screenwriter friend Terry Hayes (``The Road Warrior'') and bringing in a mystery director (his old friend Donner?) to reshoot the film's final 30 minutes.

``I hated doing it, and I had to really ask myself if my motivations were some kind of star trip,'' Gibson says, scratching his gray-flecked beard. ``But I was also the producer and, as such, I had a responsibility to the movie. And I wasn't the only one who thought the movie wasn't there. Everyone who came out of the screening room felt the same way I did.''

``Brian stuck to his guns, and I respect him for that,'' Gibson continues. ``He was very professional and, for the most part, the film as it stands reflects his vision. But there were changes that had to be made. And ultimately, if he wanted final cut, he should have gotten that in writing. I really resent all this stuff about how I took over the movie, when the fact is that, as producer, it was my movie to take over. I did what I had to do.''

And what does he have to do now? While Gibson talks about acquiring some company for ``the boys'' (his name for his two Oscars), he has an impulsive nature and hates the idea of any kind of plan or rules dictating the shape of his career. ``I'm not one of these people who has every move mapped out for the next 10 years,'' Gibson cracks. ``Life's too short to make it boring.''

Few stars would touch ``Payback,'' and Gibson's next role in Wim Wenders' ``The Million Dollar Motel'' seems to stray a bit from the mainstream as well. Gibson will play a federal agent who looks into a billionaire's death in a flophouse. The film was co-written by Wenders, Nicholas Klein and U2's Bono, an unusual team that Gibson says ``came up with something quite provocative. It's going to be an interesting movie.''

Gibson is also circling another movie from another unusual team: ``Patriot,'' a Revolutionary War drama from German director Roland Emmerich and his producing partner Dean Devlin, the filmmakers who made ``Godzilla'' and ``Independence Day.'' But what he really wants to do is direct ``Fahrenheit 451,'' and he's hoping it will star Brad Pitt. He and screenwriter Hayes have been working on a new adaptation of the Ray Bradbury classic for the past three years, but it still seems at least a year away from the starting gate.

``A lot of things have to fall in place for that to happen,'' Gibson says. Among them are ironing out the shooting logistics and finding a window in Pitt's schedule. Gibson says he won't rush things. ``I won't wait forever, but it will get made. I promise you that.''

The intensity of the last sentence underscores the sometimes lofty nature of Gibson's career ambitions - ``Lethal Weapon IV'' notwithstanding.

``Truth be told, Mel has some pretty high aspirations for his work,'' says ``Braveheart'' screenwriter Randall Wallace. ``He gives off this devil-may-care attitude, but he throws himself into whatever he does.''

And whether that involves preparing for his seventh child with Robyn, his wife of nearly 20 years (his initial reaction: ``Oh no! Another teen-ager!'') or quitting cigarettes for the umpteenth time, Gibson will approach the task with an energy level that borders on maniacal. And sometimes - when it pertains to giving up smoking - a little foaming of the mouth.

``You want to talk about rage? Nothing gets to me like kicking that dirty habit,'' Gibson vents. ``And you never stop wanting one. Never. It's enough to make you want to do something sick or twisted.''

Or make another movie. Look for Gibson's withdrawal agony (Give me back my smokes) right up there on the big screen, coming soon to a theater near you.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) MAD MEL

Mr. Gibson tells us why we shouldn't cross him

(2) no caption (Mel Gibson)

(3) Maria Bello (``ER'') stars with Mel Gibson in ``Payback.''