Mel Gibson responds to Joe Eszterhas-taped rant on 'The Tonight Show'

Mel Gibson sat down with Jay Leno on the April 27 episode of "The Tonight Show" to tell his side of the story in the very public feud between him and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, with whom he'd teamed up to make the movie "The Maccabees."

Eszterhas leaked a recording of the actor screaming horrible slurs during a disagreement about their project, and Gibson tells Leno that it was simply an emotional moment during a business deal gone bad. He says Eszterhaus went "14-15 months" without even an outline for a script for the project.

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

While that doesn't explain the awful things Gibson said, it does give a little background for the reason behind all his anger.