MEL GIBSON HAS NO BEEFS WITH ACTING

Mel Gibson is more at home on a motorcycle riding herd on his cattle back home in Australia than he is spouting what he fears is rubbish about his movies or his star status. He takes it almost as an affliction that he happens to fulfill Hollywood’s requirements for a sexy leading man.

“Stardom is a man-made institution that is loosely bestowed on some people,” he says. “It may be because they’re good at their craft, or it may be for other reasons. It is an indication that people might like what you do.”

Although he tries to be a good sport about his image, Gibson, 31, is slightly embarrassed by his “hunk” status in America. He prefers two-wheel ranching.

The job that has brought him to Los Angeles--away from his wife, four children, motorcycle and 200 head of cattle outside Sydney--is his first American action-thriller, “Lethal Weapon.” Gibson made the movie here last fall after taking a year off from acting and has now returned briefly to promote it.

“I do acting for the money and the ranch for fun,” he explains. “They balance each other really nicely. If I’m not acting, at least I’ve got something to do, something fairly full time. I need ranching. It’s so different.”

He finishes by saying the first thing that comes into his head and turning it into a joke: “It’s preferable to weaving baskets.”

Not overly talkative about himself, Gibson favors banter over facts. Very often he forgets to be serious. For instance, when a photographer wonders how to position him by the swimming pool of his Beverly Hills hotel, he proposes, “I can walk on the water.”

Oops! As he sees his words being taken down and used in evidence, he suggests, “Don’t write that.”

Later, over a cup of coffee that drips onto his jeans, he admits that his sense of humor often gets him into trouble. “I’ve got a big yap,” he says. “I’ve got to learn to keep it shut.”

Perhaps it’s a combination of his American birth and Australian upbringing, but for whatever reason, Gibson has made no major concessions to fame. He keeps his family and himself in Australia whenever possible. Now he is starting his own production company there, although he will have ties with Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub.

As for his decision two years ago to start raising beef cattle, he says, “I just went out there and learned. I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve got 200 breeders. Right now they’re all having their babies, so I ride around on my motorcycle every day checking on them.”

Idly mussing his shoulder-length hair, Gibson philosophizes, “One good thing about that place is that I can be at home and my kids can come to work with me. I don’t want to raise a bunch of maniacs or people neglected by their parents. I just want to be there for them as much as possible.”

The Gibsons have a daughter, 6; twin sons, 4, and another son, 2. Asked whether his family sustains him in the same way as does the screen family of his “Lethal Weapon” partner Danny Glover, he jokes, “You’ve got to like your own family. But they can drive you around the bend. I’m probably the only person in Australia who wears ear muffs in the summer.”

One of 11 children himself, Gibson is a believer in corporal punishment. “You have to hit them for a good reason,” he says, tongue in cheek, “like when they’re being willful and don’t do what I tell them.” He gives examples: “When they drink the bleach or write on the walls.”

“The important thing is to break their will but not their spirit,” he says. “They have to learn to be part of society and that they can’t get everything they want all the time. But they also have to be ambitious enough to want things.

“I’m still trying to figure it out. I’ll know in a few years if I’m doing it wrong.”

Gibson has adopted the same learn-as-you-go approach with stardom. Since the 1979 “Mad Max,” he has made nine films: two “Max” sequels, three serious Australian pictures--”The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Gallipoli” and “Tim”--and four Hollywood films--”The River,” “Mrs. Soffel,” “The Bounty” and “Lethal Weapon.”

Although “Lethal Weapon” marks his return to the action genre, Gibson insists that “it isn’t just a story with people committing violence. It’s about people, human relationships and friendship.” In his mind, this is what makes it different from the “truckload” of action scripts he says he has turned down.

After the “Mad Max” films, Gibson had his fill of portraying comic-book characters. “Heroes have to be larger than life, but heroism can be someone overcoming a small problem, sacrificing something--perhaps for something better,” he says.

In “Lethal Weapon,” he and Glover play cops and reluctant partners. The story contrasts the men’s private lives with their unraveling of a case involving assassination, drug-selling and Vietnam legacies. Gibson’s character, a firearms and martial-arts expert, is the “lethal weapon” of the title.

“My character is not like these stalwarts who come from Mt. Olympus, wreak havoc and go away,” the actor says. “He’s got a real problem. He really wants to do himself in. He’s not a happy fellow.

“He’s suffering from what a lot of people suffer from--depression. He’s got a sense of humor, but he doesn’t want it to show. Most of us could get into this state. It’s usually our own doing.”

The character is so desperate that at one point he contemplates shooting himself in the head. Eventually he breaks down and cries. The crying was Gibson’s idea. “Men do that,” he says. “It made him into a person, not a two-dimensional muscle-head.”

Gibson’s “bread and butter,” as he jokingly describes his teen-age girl fans, may be distressed that their hero has no love scenes in “Lethal Weapon.” He doesn’t even have a girlfriend.

“I think it’s great,” Gibson laughs. “There’s always some kind of romantic interest in films. It starts to get on your nerves.”