Danny Glover Reveals The Origin Of His Most Iconic Line

Danny Glover has a truly iconic line from a classic movie and now we know exactly how it came to be. Kudos to the actor for this one

By Douglas Helm | Published

danny glover

Lethal Weapon is easily one of the most iconic buddy-cop movies of all time. You have great performances from the mismatched duo of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as Riggs and Murtaugh, you have expert direction by the late, great Richard Donner, and you have a snappy script from Shane Black. All of this comes together to make an unforgettable film that would go on to spawn four sequels. Then, of course, you also have one of cinema’s most instantly quotable lines — “I’m too old for this s***.”

The line, which is uttered by Danny Glover as the on-the-verge-of-retirement detective, is one of those movie lines that is so ubiquitous it sometimes pops up in completely unrelated conversations. Even people who haven’t seen the 1987 classic will recognize the line. Funnily enough, it’s a line that didn’t have a great amount of thought put into it. In fact, according to Danny Glover himself, the line was basically improvised off the cuff. In an interview he had with Yahoo Entertainment, Glover said that Richard Donner asked Glover to come up with a line in the scene, and Glover just said it in a spur-of-the-moment way. He reveals that he was riffing on something that he heard some construction workers say in New York when he was walking past. Danny Glover also mentioned he had no idea that a throwaway line would have such staying power.

Danny Glover was 40 when he first said he was getting too old for this s***. Now that he’s 75, you’d think he might actually feel like he’s getting a bit too old for this, but you’d be wrong. Glover and Gibson are teaming up again for Lethal Weapon 5, which is currently in pre-production. The film suffered a tragic setback when director Richard Donner sadly passed away. Mel Gibson will be stepping in to direct in his stead. The plot is being kept pretty quiet right now, and the cast list pretty much only confirms the two OG stars, so we’ll have to sit tight for more information on the movie, but the good news is we’ll get at least one more adventure with the two detectives. Maybe Danny Glover will give us another line before it’s all said and done.

In the meantime, you can always catch up on the last four Lethal Weapon movies. If you’ve never seen them or if it has been a while, they’re always worth a revisit. Though the quality would gradually wane a little bit, the first two movies still hold up as absolute classics. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson excel in their roles and you’ll get to catch up on the whole story before the fifth movie comes out.

While there’s no expected release date for Lethal Weapon 5 yet, Danny Glover is keeping busy, so there should be plenty of his roles for us to enjoy while we wait. The next movie you can see him in is Press Play, which is about a young woman discovering she can use a mixtape to travel in time. The film stars Glover, Matt Walsh, Lewis Pullman, Clara Rugaard, Lyrica Okana, and more.