©Courtesy of Paramount
The most prolific filmmakers are those who can effortlessly connect with a widespread range of characters in various time periods. Mel Gibson is one such versatile actor-filmmaker who has garnered acclaim for his on-screen performances, as well as his writing and directorial efforts.
As a actor, Gibson is known for his action hero roles, including his breakout titular performance Max Rockatansky in the first three entries of the Mad Max series. He garnered wider recognition for his portrayal of Martin Riggs in the four entries in the Lethal Weapon movie series.
The filmmaker received further recognition in the 1990s and 2000s when he produced, helmed and starred in Braveheart. He went on to win the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for the epic historical war drama. He later helmed and produced The Passion of the Christ, which garnered commercial successful at the box office.
Gibson took the time to talk about several of his most famous movies as both an actor and director during a panel at Fan Expo Philadelphia. During the conversation, the filmmaker not only reflected on some of his most successful features, but also about his latest writing and directorial effort, The Resurrection of the Christ. The movie will serve as a continuation of The Passion of the Christ.
© Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved
Q: Do you remember the project that got you your SAG card?
Mel Gibson: I don’t remember when I got my SAG card – I think I got it last year when I noticed things starting sagging! It was probably for my first American film, but I can’t remember what that was.
Q: Mad Max, which was one of your first major films, is absolutely incredible. It put you on the global map. Looking back, what do you remember most about filming in the Australian Outback on a shoestring budget with George Miller?
Mel Gibson: It was a fairly simple project. They didn’t have a lot of money. You weren’t special, so you didn’t have a trailer. So you changed your costume out in the middle of nowhere
It was the kind of film that you didn’t have so many union pigeonholes. So you found yourself doing things like dragging camera equipment around. I remember dragging cameras up to the top of the pyramids at 4am, and then I got in front of them.
Q: Since the movie wasn’t made with a lot of money, it still came out so well, and became a cult classic. What did it teach you later in your career when you went on to direct?
Mel Gibson: Oh, it taught me a lot about filmmaking. George Miller is a master, as he actually shoots the edit. He’s pretty much a mathematician like that, as his process is very scientific.
He manages to shoot in a way that I found to be very curious. I asked him, “Why are you doing it like that?” He said, “I’m going to stick it together with this.” Then I began to understand.
So he was editing the movie in his head while we were shooting. He’s a big storyboard guy.
©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
Q: So working as a young actor on the film in those conditions, when did it dawn on you that the movie was going to be something special?
Mel Gibson: It didn’t dawn on me while we were filming. It wasn’t something that I was used to doing, as it was basically the first thing I ever did. One never knows how it’s going to come together. I was 21-years-old, so I didn’t know anything. I had no notion that it was going to become so popular while we were filming it.
Q: We can’t cover all of your films, so we’re going to jump around a bit. So when you first stepped into the role of Mark Griggs in Lethal Weapon, did you have any idea that it would become one of the most iconic buddy cop movies of all time, and would set the bar for the genre?
Mel Gibson: It was interesting. Usually with that kind of film, the guy’s a tough guy and doesn’t have any flaws. But this one was unusual in that sense, so I liked it.
Martin Riggs wasn’t balanced; instead, he was a kooky guy who had thoughts of ideation and wanted to knock himself off. He didn’t care about anything because he had PTSD.
Meanwhile, (Danny Glover’s character, Roger Murtaugh) was totally settled. So the characters were totally different, which is what made the movie special for me.
I also thought it had a well-informed script from a young screenwriter named Shane Black, who I love. He got the right tone and mood on the whole thing. I thought it was different because it broke some of the conventions that had been made in other films of its time. But it was a film of its time.
Q: Now let’s talk about Braveheart, which is one of the greatest films ever made. When you were filming those massive battle sequences, which were all filmed practically, did you ever think, this may not go right?
Mel Gibson: Of course. It was only my second outing as a director, and it was a massive shoot. There were about 3,000 people on the set, and they’re all looking at you like, you know what you’re doing. So I pretended like I knew what I was doing. But somehow it all came together.
Logistically speaking, it was a monster, from feeding everybody to getting them all look like they were in the war. The proudest achievement of that was that I think only one guy got a hangnail and another got got a broken nose and a twisted ankle, but that was it.
I used to stand up with a megaphone and say, “What’s the S word?” They’d all go, “Safety!” Then I’d say, “Right!” So everyone all managed to get through the shoot safely, especially the big sequences.
It was a long shoot – there were 105 shooting days. We didn’t get any days off. But I’m really proud of the end result. It really paid off.
Q: You’ve play a variety of characters, from warriors to cops. Which role required the most physical training, and which one was he most challenging overall?
Mel Gibson: I think it was Braveheart because I was directing and acting in it. I fell off the horse…and was pulling hips and twisting ankles. So we had a battery of chiropractors and people with electrocute stimulation zapping us.
Overall, it was a real grind. I couldn’t even talk after it was finished. I just had to sit in a room with a cup of tea and toast to decompress.
Q: Much like you described how George Miller edited Mad Max in his head, when you were putting together Braveheart, did you use the same method?
Mel Gibson: Absolutely. You use what you learn. My film school was all those great directors I worked with, like George Miller, Peter Weir, Dick Connor and Franco Zeffirelli.
Franco had some pretty great tricks, and I stole them. He was an art director for Bertolucci. So what he would put in a shot and how he would construct it, including what you see in the foreground to fill the shot to make it aesthetically pleasing, was really good.
But we would have screaming matches every day. The poor guy wouldn’t turn up to work, so I started to get pretty annoyed with him.
In fact, that’s when I really started directing. I’d be on set and ready to go by 6am, but he wouldn’t be there. I had financed the film, so my farm was on the line. So I was like, “We can’t just do nothing.”
So I started to say to the crew, “We’re doing this sequences. Put a track over there, put an 80mm lens on it. We’re going to key light it from that side and we’re going to do the soliloquy on the move.” Then they shot it and put it in the film.
Franco came in halfway through and said, “What are you doing? Get off my set.”
We ended up being pretty friendly. But that was the only time that I really had an argument with a director.
Q: You were once confirmed to be directing Lethal Weapon 5. But then last fall, you said it wasn’t quite where it needed to be at the time. What can you say about Riggs and Murtaugh coming back to this universe?
Mel Gibson: Unfortunately, the director who was involved ion all the other Lethal Weapon films (Richard Donner) passed away in an untimely way. But he was 91. I made six films with him, so the way that he passed was emotional for me.
Before he passed, he said to me, “Hey kid, if I drop off the perch, you take the reins.” I said, “You’re not going to go any place.” But he did. So I remember that he said that.
So I sat down with the writer and we did another two or three drafts of the screenplay, and it came out pretty good. In fact, I think it’s the best of all of the movies. It has a lot of fun and emotional elements.
But the studios are having a lot of problems. I don’t know what the deal is, but they can’t get this movie going. But it’s a really good screenplay, and we have to get Danny Glover back.
©Courtesy of Lionsgate
Q: Where would you want your characters to be in the world now?
Mel Gibson: Where they are now – retired. My character is a widower. He also has a crappy desk job and he’s watching all the young guys do all the hot stuff. They’re doing stuff they’re not supposed to be doing and they’re getting into trouble. But they also have a lot of fun along the way. So overall, I think the story has a lot of substance.
Q: Another great movie you directed was Hacksaw Ridge. Andrew Garfield’s performance was amazing.
Mel Gibson: That guy’s amazing. He’s a self-starter, so all you have to say to him is, “Action.”
Q: Some of the action sequences in the movie are pretty brutal, but they’re also really good. What was it like working on the action sequences?
Mel Gibson: We didn’t have very many days to shoot the movie as it had a very low budget for this genre – I think it was about $27 million. So we only had a 59-day shoot, which was luxurious for this day and age.
Overall, I think we had about 19 days to shoot the battles, and get all three sections of the battles a different character. So I was very concerned about that. You can’t make everything just the same, as every battle has to have a different characteristic.
But there were a lot of special effects and explosions. We put in whatever we didn’t have on set in during the edit.
The shoot was very complicated, so I was very fortunate to work with my editor (John Gilbert) on the movie. When I saw his first rough cut, I said “This guy’s a good editor.” Then we sat down together and tore it up. He then won the Oscar for Best Film Editing.
Q: With The Resurrection of the Christ set to continue the story of The Passion of the Christ, how did you approach elevating the narrative and scale of the sequel, as compared to the original?
Mel Gibson: It took me about eight years to write the script for the sequel, if you can call it that. It’s a very complex subject and impossible story to try to understand. So you have to underpin it with a great deal of all of salvation, history and theology. So it took a lot of digging.
At first, I wrote it with Randall Wallace. Then my brother and I sat down and took a crack at it. I then went back and forth between Randy and my brother. So there were a lot of good minds on it. Randall went to Divinity School. My brother and I were raised by the same guy who taught us our faith.
For us, it was a very difficult thing to find and synthesize. At first, you have to understand why it had to happen. To understand something like that, you have to ask, why is mankind so important? We’re so imperfect, but I speak for myself.
I think in order to understand why we’re so important, you have to start with the fall of the angels right in the beginning. It’s a pretty big thing, so it’s not one film – it’s two films because it is massive. Lionsgate has picked it up after they read the script, which they liked.
Q: Is there a time frame for the release date yet?
Mel Gibson: No, not yet. I’m going to Rome tonight to start production. I am scared to death! I hatched it with my brother and Randy, but I think if you’re not afraid of something like that, there’s something wrong. I have to do a really good job. But I’m looking forward to it.
If you like the interview, share your thoughts below.