Mel Gibson on Tiger Woods: 'I Feel Bad for the Guy'

Jan. 25, 2010— -- Days before Mel Gibson returns to the big screen after a seven-year hiatus, the sometimes controversial actor said he feels "bad" for scandalized golf great Tiger Woods.

"I mean, he's beat -- they're beating the hell out of him, you know?" Gibson told "Good Morning America" special contributor Cameron Mathison. "So you know, I love the guy. He's full of flaws, like all the rest of us. And he's getting a rough time.

"Ask any human being walking on the planet, 'Have you ever done anything that you're not too proud of?' and I think most people will say, 'Yes. I've done a few things I'm not too proud of.' And a lot of times the most difficult thing about all of that is being able to forgive yourself. ... Geez, I want to watch him play golf."

It's been seven years since Gibson's last major movie, but the world-famous actor will be back in the familiar shoes of a grizzled, driven cop for the upcoming thriller "Edge of Darkness," which opens Friday.

In the film, Gibson plays a police officer whose daughter is gunned down before his eyes. The tragedy fuels the cop's turn from a straitlaced officer to an avenging force.

"That's the emotional core of the film ... the father-daughter relationship," Gibson said. "Probably the fact that she's tragically taken from him and the fact that he probably wasn't such a great dad while she was alive, that he's trying to make it all up to her posthumously -- that's the tragedy of it, I think."

No stranger to the father-daughter relationship, Gibson, already a father of seven, recently added a baby girl to his brood.

"Wow, you know? It certainly brings back a few memories. A new life is so precious, and it's so great to watch ... and it's uncompromising. It's a force bigger than -- it's big," he said.