Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson,
AO (born January 3, 1956)
is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and
screenwriter.
Born in Peekskill
, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to
Sydney
when he was 12 years old and later studied acting
at the National
Institute of Dramatic Art.
After appearing in the
Mad Max and
Lethal Weapon series, Gibson
went on to direct and star in the
Academy
Award-winning
Braveheart.
Gibson's direction of
Braveheart made him the sixth
actor-turned-filmmaker to receive an
Academy Award for Best Director.
In 2004, he directed and produced
The Passion of the Christ, a
controversial but successful film that portrayed the last hours of
the life of
Jesus Christ. The movies he
has acted in have grossed more than two billion dollars in the U.S.
alone.
Early life
Gibson was
born in Peekskill, New York, the sixth of eleven children, and the
second son of Hutton Gibson and
Irish-born Anne Reilly. His paternal grandmother was the
Australian opera soprano,
Eva Mylott
(1875–1920). One of Gibson's younger brothers,
Donal, is also an actor.
Gibson's first name
comes from Saint Mel, fifth-century Irish
saint, and founder of Gibson's mother's native diocese, Ardagh,
while his second name, Colm-Cille, is shared
by an Irish saint and is name of the parish in County Longford
where Anne Reilly was born and raised.
Because of his mother, Gibson holds dual Irish and American
citizenship.
Soon after being awarded $145,000 in a work-related-injury lawsuit
against
New York Central
Railroad on February 14, 1968, Hutton Gibson relocated his
family to Sydney, Australia. Gibson was 12 years old at the time.
The move to Hutton's mother's native Australia was for economic
reasons, and because Hutton thought the Australian military would
reject his oldest son for the
Vietnam War
draft.
Gibson was
educated by members of the Congregation of Christian
Brothers at St. Leo's
Catholic College in Wahroonga
, New South Wales, during his high school
years.
Career
Gibson gained very favorable notices from film critics when he
first entered the cinematic scene as well as comparisons to several
classic movie stars. In 1982,
Vincent
Canby wrote that “Mr. Gibson recalls the young
Steve McQueen… I can't define "star
quality," but whatever it is, Mr. Gibson has it.” Gibson has also
been likened to “a combination
Clark
Gable and
Humphrey Bogart.”
Gibson's physical appearance made him a natural for leading male
roles in action projects such as the "Mad Max" series of films,
Peter Weir's
Gallipoli, and the "Lethal
Weapon" series of films. Later, Gibson expanded into a variety of
acting projects including human dramas such as
Hamlet, and comedic roles such as those in
Maverick and
What Women Want. His most artistic and
financial success came with films where he expanded beyond acting
into directing and producing, such as 1993's
The Man Without a Face, 1995's
Braveheart, 2000's
The Patriot (acted only),
2004's
The Passion of the
Christ and 2006's
Apocalypto. Gibson was considered for roles
in
Batman,
GoldenEye,
Amadeus,
The Golden Child,
X-Men,
Robin Hood: Prince of
Thieves,
Runaway
Bride and
Primary
Colors. Actor
Sean Connery
once suggested Gibson should play the next
James Bond to Connery's
M. Gibson turned down the role,
reportedly because he feared being
typecast.
Stage
Gibson studied at the
National Institute of
Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney. The students at NIDA were
classically
trained in the British-theater tradition rather than in preparation
for
screen acting. As students, Gibson and
actress
Judy Davis played the
leads in
Romeo
and Juliet, and Gibson played the role of
Queen Titania in an
experimental production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
After
graduation in 1977, Gibson immediately began work on the filming of
Mad Max, but continued to work as a
stage actor, and joined the State Theatre Company
of South Australia in Adelaide
.
Gibson’s theatrical credits include the character
Estragon (opposite
Geoffrey Rush) in
Waiting for Godot, and the role of
Biff Loman in a 1982 production of
Death of a Salesman in
Sydney. Gibson’s most recent theatrical performance, opposite
Sissy Spacek, was the 1993 production
of
Love Letters by
A. R.
Gurney, in Telluride, Colorado
.
Australian television and cinema
While a student at
NIDA, Gibson made his
film debut in the 1977 film
Summer
City, for which he was paid $250. Gibson also played a
mentally-slow youth in
Tim,
which earned him the
Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading
Role. The release of
Mad Max in
1979 brought Gibson to mainstream attention.
During this period Gibson also appeared in Australian television
series guest roles on programs
The
Sullivans,
Cop Shop (in
1980), and in the pilot episode of
Punishment (produced in 1980,
screened 1981).
Gibson joined the cast of the
World War
II action film
Attack Force
Z, which was not released until 1982 when Gibson had
become a bigger star. Director
Peter Weir
cast Gibson as one of the leads in the critically-acclaimed
World War I drama
Gallipoli, which earned Gibson
another Best Actor Award from the
Australian Film Institute. The
film
Gallipoli also
helped to earn Gibson the reputation of a serious, versatile actor
and gained him the Hollywood agent Ed Limato. The sequel
Mad Max 2 was his first hit in
America (released as
The Road Warrior). In 1982 Gibson
again attracted critical acclaim in
Peter
Weir’s romantic thriller
The Year of Living
Dangerously. Following a year hiatus from film acting
after the birth of his twin sons, Gibson took on the role of
Fletcher Christian in
The Bounty in 1984. Playing
Max Rockatansky for the third time
in
Mad Max Beyond
Thunderdome in 1985 earned Gibson his first million dollar
salary.
Hollywood
Early Hollywood years
Mel
Gibson's first American film was Mark
Rydell’s 1984 drama The
River, in which he and Sissy
Spacek played struggling Tennessee
farmers. Gibson then starred in the gothic
romance
Mrs. Soffel for
Australian director
Gillian
Armstrong. He and
Matthew Modine
played condemned convict brothers opposite
Diane Keaton as the warden's wife who visits
them to read the
Bible. In 1985, after working
on four films in a row, Gibson took almost two years off at his
Australian cattle ranch. He returned to play the role of
Martin Riggs in
Lethal Weapon, a film which helped to
cement his status as a Hollywood star. Gibson's next film was
Robert Towne’s
Tequila Sunrise, followed by
Lethal Weapon 2 in 1989.
After starring in three films back-to-back,
Bird on a Wire,
Air America, and
Hamlet, Gibson took another hiatus
from Hollywood.
1990s
During the 1990s, Gibson used his boxoffice power to alternate
between commercial and personal projects. His films in the first
half of the decade were
Forever
Young,
Lethal Weapon
3,
Maverick, and
Braveheart. He then starred in
Ransom,
Conspiracy Theory,
Lethal Weapon 4, and
Payback. Gibson also served
as the speaking and singing voice of
John Smith in
Disney’s
Pocahontas.
After 2000
In 2000, Gibson acted in three films that each grossed over $100
million:
The
Patriot,
Chicken Run,
and
What Women Want. In
2002, Gibson appeared in the
Vietnam War
drama
We Were Soldiers and
M. Night Shyamalan’s
Signs, which became the highest-grossing
film of Gibson’s acting career. While promoting
Signs, Gibson said that he no longer
wanted to be a movie star and would only act in film again if the
script were truly extraordinary. Gibson is currently filming
Edge of
Darkness, which marks his first starring role since
2002.
Producer
After his success in Hollywood with the
Lethal Weapon series, Gibson began to
move into producing and directing. With partner
Bruce Davey, Gibson formed
Icon Productions in 1989 in order to make
Hamlet. In addition to
producing or co-producing many of Gibson's own star vehicles, Icon
has turned out many other small films, ranging from
Immortal Beloved to
An Ideal Husband.
Gibson has taken supporting roles in some of these films, such as
The Million Dollar
Hotel and
The
Singing Detective to improve their commercial prospects.
Gibson has also produced a number of projects for television,
including a biopic on
The Three
Stooges and the 2008
PBS documentary
Carrier. Icon has
grown beyond just a production company to an international
distribution company and a film exhibitor in Australia and New
Zealand.
Director
Mel Gibson has credited his directors, particularly
George Miller,
Peter Weir, and
Richard
Donner, with teaching him the craft of filmmaking and
influencing him as a director. According to
Robert Downey, Jr., studio executives
encouraged Gibson in 1989 to try directing, an idea he rebuffed at
the time. Gibson made his directorial debut in 1993 with
The Man Without a
Face, followed two years later by
Braveheart, which earned Gibson the
Academy Award for Best
Director. Gibson had long planned to direct a remake of
Fahrenheit 451,
but in 1999 the project was indefinitely postponed because of
scheduling conflicts. Gibson was scheduled to direct
Robert Downey, Jr. in a Los Angeles stage
production of
Hamlet in January
2001, but Downey's drug relapse ended the project. In 2002, while
promoting
We Were Soldiers
and
Signs to the press, Gibson
mentioned that he was planning to pare back on acting and return to
directing. In September 2002, Gibson announced that he would direct
a film called
The
Passion in
Aramaic and
Latin with no subtitles because he hoped to "transcend
language barriers with filmic storytelling." In 2004, he released
the controversial film
The
Passion of the Christ, which he co-wrote, co-produced, and
directed. Gibson directed a few episodes of
Complete Savages for the
ABC network. In 2006, he
directed the action-adventure film
Apocalypto, his second film to feature
sparse dialogue in a non-English language.
Honors
On July 25, 1997, Gibson was named an honorary
Officer of the Order of
Australia (AO), in recognition of his "service to the
Australian film industry". The award was honorary because
substantive awards are made only to Australian citizens. In 1985,
Gibson was named "
The Sexiest Man
Alive" by
People, the
first person to be named so. Gibson quietly declined the
Chevalier des Arts et Lettres
from the French government in 1995 as a protest against France's
resumption of nuclear testing in the Southwest Pacific.
Time magazine chose Mel
Gibson and Michael Moore as
Men of
the Year in 2004, but Gibson turned down the photo session and
interview, and the cover went instead to
George W. Bush.
Landmark films
Mad Max series
Gibson got his breakthrough role as the leather-clad
post-apocalyptic survivor in
George Miller's
Mad Max. The independently-financed blockbuster
earned Gibson $15,000 and helped to make him an international star
everywhere but in the United States, where the actors' Australian
accents were dubbed with American accents. The original film
spawned two sequels:
Mad Max 2
(known in North America as
The Road Warrior), and
Mad Max 3 (known
in North America as
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome). A fourth
movie,
Mad Max 4: Fury
Road, is in development, but both Gibson and
George Miller have indicated that
the starring role would go to a younger actor.
Gallipoli
Gibson played the role of the cynical Frank Dunne alongside co-star
Mark Lee in the 1981
Peter Weir film.
Gallipoli is about several young
men from rural Western
Australia
who enlist
in the Australian Army during the
First World War. They are sent to Turkey
, where they
take part in the Gallipoli
Campaign. During the course of the movie, the young men
slowly lose their innocence about the purpose of war. The climax of
the movie occurs on the
ANZAC battlefield at
Gallipoli and depicts the brutal attack at
the Nek. The critically-acclaimed
film helped to further launch Gibson's career. He won the award for
Best Actor in a Leading Role from the
Australian Film Institute.
The Year of Living Dangerously
Gibson played a naïve but ambitious journalist opposite
Sigourney Weaver and
Linda Hunt in
Peter
Weir’s atmospheric 1982 film
The Year of Living
Dangerously, based on the novel of the same name by
Christopher Koch. The movie was
both a critical and commercial success, and the upcoming Australian
actor was heavily marketed by
MGM studio. In his
review of the film, Vincent Canby of the
New York Times wrote, "If this film doesn't
make an international star of Mr. Gibson, then nothing will. He
possesses both the necessary talent and the screen presence."
Gibson was initially reluctant to accept the role of Guy Hamilton.
"I didn't necessarily see my role as a great challenge. My
character was, like the film suggests, a puppet. And I went with
that. It wasn't some star thing, even though they advertised it
that way." Gibson saw some similarities between himself and the
character of Guy. "He's not a silver-tongued devil. He's kind of
immature and he has some rough edges and I guess you could say the
same for me." Gibson has cited this screen performance as his
personal favorite.
The Bounty
Gibson followed the footsteps of
Errol
Flynn,
Clark Gable, and
Marlon Brando by starring as
Fletcher Christian in a cinematic
retelling of the
mutiny on the
Bounty. The resulting 1984 film
The
Bounty is considered to be the most historically accurate
version. However, Gibson thinks that the film's revisionism did not
go far enough. He stated that his character should have been
portrayed as more of a villain and described
Anthony Hopkins's performance as
William Bligh as the best aspect of the
film.
Lethal Weapon series
Gibson moved into more mainstream commercial filmmaking with the
popular
buddy cop Lethal Weapon
series, which began with the 1987 original. In the films he played
LAPD Detective
Martin Riggs, a recently widowed
Vietnam veteran with a death wish and a
penchant for violence and gunplay. In the films, he is partnered
with a reserved family man named
Roger
Murtaugh (
Danny Glover). Following
the success of
Lethal Weapon,
director
Richard Donner and principal
cast revisited the characters in three sequels,
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989),
Lethal Weapon 3 (1993), and
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).
This series would come to exemplify the subgenre of the
buddy film.
Hamlet
Gibson made the unusual transition from the action to classical
genres, playing the melancholic Danish prince in
Franco Zeffirelli's
Hamlet. Gibson was cast
alongside such experienced
Shakespearean actors as
Ian Holm,
Alan Bates, and
Paul Scofield. He described working
with his fellow cast members as similar to being "thrown into the
ring with
Mike Tyson".
The film met with critical and marketing success and remains steady
in DVD sales. It also marked the transformation of Mel Gibson from
action hero to serious actor and filmmaker.
Braveheart
Mel Gibson directed, produced, and starred in
Braveheart, an epic telling of the legend of
Sir
William Wallace, a 13th century
martyr of
Scottish nationalism.
Gibson received two
Academy Awards,
Best Director and
Best Picture for his
second directorial effort.
Braveheart influenced the Scottish
nationalism movement and helped to revive the film genre of the
historical epic.
The Battle of Stirling Bridge
sequence in Braveheart is considered by critics to be
one of the all-time best directed battle scenes.
The Passion of the Christ
Gibson directed, produced, co-wrote, and self-funded the 2004 film
The Passion of the
Christ, which chronicled the
passion and death of Jesus Christ.
The cast spoke the languages of
Aramaic,
Latin, and
Hebrew. Although Gibson originally
announced his intention to release the film without subtitles; he
relented on this point for theatrical exhibition. The highly
controversial film sparked divergent reviews, ranging from high
praise to criticism of the violence to charges of anti-Semitism.
The movie grossed
US$611,899,420 worldwide
and $370,782,930 in the US alone, surpassing any motion picture
starring Gibson. It became the eighth highest-grossing film in
history and the highest-grossing
rated R
film of all time. The film was nominated for three
Academy Awards and won the
People's Choice Award for Best
Drama.
Apocalypto
Gibson further established his reputation as a director with his
2006 action-adventure film
Apocalypto. Gibson's fourth directorial
effort is set in
Mesoamerica during the
early 16th century against the turbulent
end
times of a
Maya civilization.
The sparse dialogue is spoken in the
Yucatec Maya language by a cast of
Native American
descent.
Future films
In March 2007, Gibson told a screening audience that he was
preparing another script with
Farhad
Safinia about the writing of the
Oxford English Dictionary
(OED). Gibson's company has long owned the rights to
The Professor and the Madman,
which tells the story of the creation of the
OED.
Gibson has dismissed the rumors that he is considering directing a
film about Spanish explorer
Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Asked
in September 2007 if he planned to return to acting and
specifically to action roles, Gibson said:
- "I think I’m too old for that, but you never know.
I just like telling stories. Entertainment is valid
and I guess I’ll probably do it again before it's over.
You know, do something that people won’t get mad with me
for."
Gibson is next acting in a film adaptation of the BBC miniseries,
Edge of Darkness. This
will be his first starring role since
Signs back in 2002.
Edge of Darkness is
currently in post-production and is slated for a January 29, 2010
release.
In 2005, the film “Sam and George” was announced as the seventh
collaboration between director
Richard
Donner and Gibson. In February 2009, Donner said that this
Paramount project was “dead,” but
that he and Gibson were planning another film based on an original
script by
Brian Helgeland for
production in fall 2009.
Gibson filmed
The Beaver,
a film directed by former
Maverick co-star,
Jodie Foster in 2009.
Personal life
Family
Gibson
met Robyn Denise Moore in the late 1970s soon after filming
Mad Max when they were both tenants
at a house in Adelaide. At the time, Robyn was a dental nurse and
Mel was an unknown actor working for the
South Australian
Theatre Company.
On June 7, 1980, they were married in a
Catholic church in Forestville, New South Wales
. The couple have one daughter, six sons, and
two grandchildren. Their seven children are Hannah (born 1980),
twins Edward and Christian (born 1982), William (born 1985), Louis
(born 1988), Milo (born 1990), and Thomas (born 1999).
Daughter Hannah Gibson married
blues musician
Kenny Wayne Shepherd on
September 16, 2006. Gibson's spokesman previously had denied a
rumor that Hannah was planning to become a nun.
After nearly three years of separation, Robyn Gibson filed for
divorce on April 13, 2009, citing irreconcilable differences. In a
joint statement, the Gibsons declared, "Throughout our marriage and
separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and
integrity of our family and will continue to do so."
Gibson's girlfriend,
Russian musician
Oksana Grigorieva, has a son with former boyfriend, actor
Timothy Dalton. On October 30, 2009,
Grigorieva gave birth to their daughter, Lucia.
Investments
Gibson
has an avid interest in property investments, with multiple
properties in Malibu, California, several
locations in Costa
Rica
, a private island in Fiji
and
properties in Australia. In December 2004, Gibson sold his Australian
farm in the Kiewa
Valley
for $6 million. Also in December
2004, Gibson purchased Mago Island
in Fiji from Tokyu Corporation of Japan for
$15 million. Descendants of the original native inhabitants
of Mago (who were displaced in the 1860s) have protested the
purchase. Gibson stated it was his intention to retain the pristine
environment of the undeveloped island.
In early 2005, he
sold his Montana
ranch to a neighbor for an undisclosed multimillion
dollar sum. In April 2007 he purchased a ranch in
Costa
Rica for $26 million, and in July 2007 he sold his Tudor
estate in Connecticut
(which he purchased in 1994 for $9 million) for $40
million to an unnamed buyer. Also that month, he sold a Malibu
property for $30 million that he had purchased for
$24 million two years before. In 2008, he purchased
the Malibu home of David
Duchovny and Téa
Leoni.
Religious and political views
Faith
Gibson was brought up as a
Traditionalist Catholic. As part of
his response to a question on whether
Pope John Paul II saw
The Passion of the Christ,
Gibson said, "I’d like to hear what he has to say. I’d like to hear
what anyone has to say. This film isn’t made for the elite. Anyone
could see this film, even the occupier of the
chair of Peter can see this film." Gibson
also referred to him as "Pope John Paul II" in a 2004
Reader's Digest interview, and
acquaintance Father
William Fulco has
said that Gibson denies neither the
Pope nor
Vatican II.
When asked about the Catholic doctrine of "
Extra Ecclesiam nulla
salus", Gibson replied, "There is no salvation for those
outside the Church … I believe it. Put it this way. My wife is a
saint. She's a much better person than I am. Honestly. She's, like,
Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God,
she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it's just not fair
if she doesn't make it, she's better than I am. But that is a
pronouncement from the
chair. I
go with it."
When he was asked at Willow
Creek
church whether John 14:6 is an intolerant position,
he said that "through the merits
of Jesus' sacrifice… even people who don't know Jesus are able to
be saved, but through him." Gibson told
Diane Sawyer that he believes non-Catholics and
non-Christians can go to heaven.
In May
2007, Mel Gibson flew to Hermosillo
, Mexico, where he attended a Tridentine Mass during which grandchildren
of his friends and two of his children received the sacrament of Confirmation, administered by
Archbishop emeritus Carlos
Quintero Arce. The same Archbishop Arce
consecrated Gibson's private traditional
Catholic
church
in February, 2007.
Gibson's
traditionalist
Catholic beliefs have been the target of attacks, especially
during the controversy over his film
The Passion of the Christ.
Gibson stated in the
Diane Sawyer
interview that he feels that his "human rights were violated" by
the often vitriolic attacks on his person, his family, and his
religious beliefs which were sparked by
The Passion.
Politics
Gibson has been called everything from “ultraconservative” to
“politically very liberal” by acquaintance
William Fulco. Although he has denied that he
is a
Republican,
Gibson is often referred to as one in the press, and
WorldNetDaily once reported that there was
grassroots support among Republicans for "a presidential run" in
2008.
Gibson complimented filmmaker
Michael
Moore and his documentary
Fahrenheit 9/11 when he and Moore were
recognized at the 2005
People's
Choice Awards. Gibson's
Icon
Productions originally agreed to finance Moore's film, but
later sold the rights to
Miramax
Films.
Moore said that his agent Ari Emanuel claimed that "top Republicans"
called Mel Gibson to tell him, "don’t expect to get more
invitations to the White
House
". Icon's spokesman dismissed this story,
saying "We never run from a controversy. You'd have to be out of
your mind to think that of the company that just put out
The Passion of the
Christ."
In a July 1995 interview with
Playboy magazine, Gibson said President
Bill Clinton was a "low-level
opportunist" and someone was "telling him what to do". He said that
the
Rhodes Scholarship was
established for young men and women who want to strive for a
"
new world order" and
this was a campaign for
Marxism. Gibson
later backed away from such
conspiracy
theories saying, "It was like: 'Hey, tell us a conspiracy'...
so I laid out this thing, and suddenly, it was like I was talking
the gospel truth, espousing all this political shit like I believed
in it."
In the same 1995
Playboy interview, when Gibson was asked
why he was against women being priests, he responded that "men and
women are just different. They're not equal. The same way that you
and I are not equal... You might be more intelligent, or you might
have a bigger dick. Whatever it is, nobody's equal. And men and
women are not equal. I have tremendous respect for women. I love
them. I don't know why they want to step down. Women in my family
are the center of things. And good things emanate from them. The
guys usually mess up... Women are just different. Their
sensibilities are different." When asked for an example, he
responded "I had a female business partner once. Didn't work." When
asked why, he said that "she was a cunt." Gibson also said
"Feminists don't like me, and I don't like them. I don't get their
point. I don't know why feminists have it out for me, but that's
their problem, not mine."
In 2004, he publicly spoke out against taxpayer-funded
embryonic stem-cell research that involves the
cloning and destruction of human embryos.
In March 2005, he issued a statement condemning the outcome of the
Terri Schiavo case, referring to
Schiavo's death as "state-sanctioned murder" on
Sean Hannity's radio show.
Gibson joked about
WMDs
in a February 2004 interview with
Diane
Sawyer and in March 2004 questioned the
Iraq war on
Sean
Hannity's radio show. In 2006, Gibson told
Time magazine that the "fearmongering"
depicted in his film
Apocalypto
"reminds me a little of
President
Bush and his guys."
Allegations of homophobia
The
Gay
& Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) accused
Gibson of homophobia after a December 1991 interview in the Spanish
newspaper
El País. Asked what
he thought of gay people, he said, "They take it up the ass."
Gibson then proceeded to point at his posterior and said: "This is
only for taking a shit." When reminded that he had worked closely
with gay people at drama school, Gibson said, "They were good
people, kind, I like them. But their thing is not my thing." When
the interviewer asked if Gibson was afraid that people would think
he is gay because he's an actor, Gibson replied, "Do I sound like a
homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them? What happens
is when you're an actor, they stick that label on you." Gibson
later defended his comments on
Good Morning America, saying,
"[Those remarks were a response] to a direct question. If someone
wants my opinion, I'll give it. What, am I supposed to lie to
them?" In his 1995
Playboy interview, he responded to
GLAAD's
protests over his comment with "I'll apologize when hell freezes
over. They can fuck off". Eventually, however, Gibson joined GLAAD
in hosting 10 lesbian and gay filmmakers for an on-location seminar
on the set of the movie
Conspiracy Theory in January
1997. In 1999 when asked about the comments to
El País, Gibson said, "I shouldn't have
said it, but I was tickling a bit of vodka during that interview,
and the quote came back to bite me on the ass."
Gibson has been criticized for homophobia over his films
Braveheart and
The Passion of the
Christ.
Allegations of anti-Semitism
Gibson has been accused of anti-Semitism over two issues:His 2004
film
The Passion of the
Christ sparked a fierce debate over
alleged anti-Semitic
imagery and overtones. Gibson denied that the film was
anti-Semitic, but critics remained divided. Some agreed that the
film was consistent with the
Gospels and
traditional Catholic teachings, while others argued that it
reflected a selective reading of the
Gospels
or that it failed to comply with recommendations for dramatization
of the
Passion issued by the
Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the
USCCB in
1988.
A leaked report revealed that during Gibson's July 28, 2006, arrest
for
driving under the
influence, he made anti-Semitic remarks to arresting officer
James Mee, who is Jewish, saying, "Fucking Jews... Jews are
responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?" Gibson
issued two apologies for the incident through his publicist, and in
a later interview with
Diane Sawyer, he
affirmed the accuracy of the quotations.
Prankster
Mel Gibson is known for his sense of humor on the set of his
movies. He has a reputation for practical jokes, puns,
Stooge-inspired physical comedy, and doing
outrageous things to shock people. Gibson is fond of drawing
caricatures and hiring high school marching bands to pay tribute to
his co-workers. As a director he sometimes breaks the tension on
set by having his actors perform serious scenes wearing a red clown
nose.
Helena Bonham Carter, who
appeared alongside him in
Hamlet, said of him, "He has a very
basic sense of humor. It's a bit lavatorial and not very
sophisticated." On the set of
Maverick Gibson played a joke on
co-star
Jodie Foster's birthday by
secretly rewriting the script to give her character all corny
dialogue. Foster returned the favor by hiring a
bagpiper in full Scottish regalia to follow Mel
around at the
Vanity Fair
Oscar party after he won for
Braveheart. On the set of
Ransom, Gibson presented
Ron Howard and
Brian
Grazer with a mock
Braveheart For Your Consideration ad when both
Braveheart and
Apollo 13 were nominated for
Best Picture. The ad was for
“Best Moon Shot,” and featured a picture of
Braveheart's Scottish army
mooning the English. While filming
Conspiracy Theory, he and
co-star
Julia Roberts played a series
of pranks on each other, beginning with Gibson welcoming Roberts to
the set with a gift-wrapped freeze-dried rat. In addition to
inserting several homages to the
Three
Stooges in his
Lethal
Weapon movies, Gibson produced a 2000 television movie
about the comedy group which starred
Michael Chiklis as
Curley Howard. As a gag, Gibson inserted a
single subliminal frame of himself smoking a cigarette into the
2005 teaser trailer of
Apocalypto.
Alcohol abuse
Mel Gibson has said that he started drinking at the age of
thirteen. In a 2002 interview about his time at
NIDA, Gibson said, "I had
really good highs but some very low lows. I found out recently I'm
manic depressive." Gibson has not
made any other public mention of having
bipolar disorder.
Gibson was arrested in Toronto in 1984 for driving with a blood
alcohol level between 0.12%-0.13% after he rear-ended a car.
Gibson
pled guilty and was fined $300 and banned from driving in Ontario
for 3 months. This led to a retreat to his
Australian farm for over a year to recover, but he continued to
struggle with drinking.
Despite this problem, Gibson gained a
reputation in Hollywood
for professionalism and punctuality, so that
Lethal Weapon 2 director
Richard Donner was shocked when
Gibson confided that he was drinking five pints of beer for
breakfast. Reflecting in 2003 and 2004, Gibson said that
despair in his mid-30s led him to contemplate suicide, and he
meditated on Christ's
Passion
to heal his wounds. He took more time off acting in 1991 and sought
professional help. That year, Gibson's attorneys were unsuccessful
at blocking the
Sunday
Mirror from publishing what Gibson shared at
AA meetings. In 1992, Gibson provided
financial support to Hollywood's Recovery Center, saying, "
Alcoholism is something that runs in my family.
It's something that's close to me. People do come back from it, and
it's a miracle."
On July 28, 2006, Gibson was arrested for
DUI while speeding in his
vehicle with an open container of alcohol. He admitted to making
anti-Semitic remarks during his arrest and apologized for his
"despicable" behavior, saying the comments were "blurted out in a
moment of insanity" and asked to meet with Jewish leaders to help
him "discern the appropriate path for healing." When pressed for
what his thoughts were at the time in a later interview with Diane
Sawyer, he cited the vitriolic attacks on his film
The Passion of the Christ and
Israel-Lebanon
conflict. After
Gibson's arrest, his publicist said he had entered a recovery
program to battle alcoholism. On August 17, 2006, Gibson pleaded
no contest to a misdemeanor
drunken-driving charge and was sentenced to three years on
probation. He was ordered to attend self-help meetings five times a
week for four and a half months and three times a week for the
remainder of the first year of his probation. He was also ordered
to attend a First Offenders Program, was fined $1,300, and his
license was restricted for 90 days. He also volunteered to record a
public service announcement.
In a October 12, 2006 interview with
Diane
Sawyer, Gibson spoke on his struggle to remain sober.
"The risk of everything - life, limb, family - is not
enough to keep you from it… You cannot do it of
yourself.
And people can help, yeah.
But it's God.
You've got to go there.
You've got to do it.
Or you won't survive…This whole experience in a way,
for me, I'm sort of viewing it now as a kind of a blessing because,
firstly, I got stopped before I did any real damage to anyone
else.
Thank God for that.
I didn't hurt myself, you know.
I didn't leave my kids fatherless… The other thing is
sometimes you need a cold bucket of water in the face to sort of
snap to because you're dealing with a sort of a malady of the soul,
an obsession of the mind and a physical allergy.
And some people need a big tap on the
shoulder.
In my case, public humiliation on a global scale seems
to be what was required."
At a May 2007 progress hearing, Gibson was praised for his
compliance with the terms of his probation, his extensive
participation in a self-help program, beyond what was
required.
Philanthropy
Although the Gibsons have avoided publicity about their
philanthropy, they are believed to contribute a substantial amount
of money to various charities, one of which is
Healing the Children. According to
Cris Embleton, one of the founders,
the Gibsons have given millions to provide lifesaving medical
treatment to needy children worldwide. The Gibsons have also
supported the arts, funding the restoration of
Renaissance artwork and giving millions of
dollars to
NIDA.
While
filming Apocalypto in the
jungles of Mexico's Veracruz
state, Mel Gibson donated one million dollars to
the Rotary
Club
to build houses for poor people in the region after
some severe flooding wiped out many homes, stating:
"[T]hey had a lot of floods down
there.
It was like Louisiana down there in the southern
regions.
They had severe flooding and something like a
million people were displaced and washed out.
I've always been of the opinion that if you go into
someone else's country to make a film you don't just go in there
and stomp all over the place.
You bring a gift.
It's like going to somebody's
house.
You bring them a bottle of wine or a bunch of
flowers or a box of chocolates and it's the same sort of thing on a
big scale when you're going in to somebody's country and they are
going to help you make your film.
You help them first somehow or you give them a gift
or you help in what way you can.
So we sort of assisted with the flood relief stuff
down there."
Gibson has been involved in discreetly assisting members of the
entertainment community with substance abuse problems.
He worked behind the
scenes to get Robert Downey, Jr.
help while at Corcoran State Prison.
Hole rocker
Courtney Love praised Mel Gibson for
saving her from a drug relapse after the Hollywood actor helped
force her into rehab. Gibson sought to help the musician at a hotel
in Los Angeles when he heard she was using drugs again. Love later
recalled,
"I kept slamming the door in (Gibson's)
face.
There were two drug people with me who wouldn't leave,
so they couldn't get me to rehab.
But because of Mel, two drug people ran off to have a
cheeseburger with him because he's Mel, and then Warren [Boyd] (her
drug minder) could get me into rehab."
Gibson donated $500,000 to the
El Mirador
Basin Project to protect the last tract of virgin rain forest
in Central America and to fund archeological excavations in the
"cradle of Mayan civilization." In July 2007, Gibson again visited
Central America to make arrangements
for donations to the indigenous population.
Gibson met with
Costa
Rican President Oscar Arias to
discuss how to "channel the funds." During the same
month, Gibson pledged to give financial assistance to a Malaysian
company named Green Rubber Global for a tire recycling factory
located in Gallup, New
Mexico
. While on a business trip to Singapore in
September 2007, Gibson donated to a local charity for children with
chronic and terminal illnesses. In September 2008, the Gibsons
donated $50,000 to the Kidney Foundation of Fiji. The check was
delivered by son Milo, who stated he loved Fiji and his family was
grateful to be able to help the organization.
Filmography and awards
Other awards and accomplishments
References
- 1995 Academy Awards
- Jesus helps Mel hit No. 1: Controversial film gives
Gibson the most weight on Forbes power list; Britney off the chart
again June 18, 2004
- Box Office Mojo.com Domestic Total
Gross:$370,782,930 60.6% + Foreign: $241,116,490 39.4%
-
http://boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=melgibson.htm
- Michael Dwyer, The Irish Times film critic,
interviewed on RTÉ Radio
1's This week programme, August 6, 2006.
- Mel Gibson: Living Dangerously, Wensley Clarkson, Thunder's
Mouth Press, New York, 1993, page 30.
- Clarkson, Wensley. Mel Gibson: Living Dangerously.
pages 170-171.
- "A Night on Mount Edna," December 15, 1990
- Search Australian Honours - Simple Search
- Order of Australia Association
- Think You Know Sexy?
- Galloway, Stephen. The Hollywood Reporter. October 30,
1995. "It was a definite decision to make a protest against the
nuclear tests", said Gibson, who is mad at French President Jacques
Chirac for deciding to detonate some bombs in the Pacific.
- Michael Moore Defends Cruise, Slags Gibson
September 16, 2006
- The best -- and worst -- movie battle scenes
April 2, 2007
- Event Report: "Mel Gibson Goes Mad At CSU" - CinemaBlend.com
- March 23, 2007
- 10 minutes with Mel Gibson: "When going green comes
naturally" - The New Straits Times - September
1, 2007 - accessed September 9, 2007
- "Mel Gibson to film in Panama?" - Opodo Travel
News - March 7, 2007
- Mel Gibson Thinking About Setting Next Splatter
Film In Panama March 6, 2007
- Enter the eco warrior The Star (Malaysia) -
September 10, 2007 - accessed September 10, 2007
- Mel Gibson: Living Dangerously, Wensley Clarkson, Thunder's
Mouth Press, New York, 1993, page 125.
- Mel Gibson denied bid to reclassify estate as
farm Jan 17, 2005
- Mel Gibson: Hollywood Takes Sides August 4, 2006
- Mel Gibson selling up September 16, 2004
- Mel Gibson reportedly listing his Greenwich, CT
estate for $39.5M; status of his Malibu properties is uncertain
July 12, 2007
- Mel Gibson sells Malibu home for $30 million: Star bought
the property two years ago for $24 million July 30, 2007
- Goodridge, Mike. "The Passion of Mel Gibson." Screen
International. pg 12, February 20, 2004.
- Noonan, Peggy. "Face to Face with Mel Gibson." Reader's
Digest. February 2004.
- “Whose Passion? Media, Faith & Controversy”
panel discussion video, time 1:05
- Boyer, Peter J. The New Yorker. September 15,
2003
- "Inside Mel Gibson's "Passion"."
Salon. January 27, 2004.
- "Gibson attends Roman Catholic Confirmation in
Mexico." Fox News. May 23, 2007.
- "Mel Gibson y el Obispo emérito de Hermosillo." Fox
News. May 23, 2007.
- "Mel Gibson visits Archbishop." azstarnet.com.
- Padgett/Veracruz, Tim. "Apocalypto Now." Time. March 19,
2006.
- Weiner, Allison Hope. "The Year of Living Dangerously." Entertainment
Weekly. December 8, 2006.
- "Mel Gibson Pushed for President." World
Net Daily.
- "Moore, Gibson: I Love His Work." Fox News.
January 10, 2005.
- Keough, Peter. "Not so hot: Fahrenheit 9/11 is more smoke than
fire." Boston Phoenix. June 25, 2004.
- Stein, Ruthe. "'Fahrenheit 9/11' too hot for Disney." San
Francisco Chronicle. May 6, 2004.
- Grobel, Lawrence. "Interview: Mel Gibson". Playboy. July 1995. Vol. 42, No.
7, Pg. 51. Retrieved May 17, 2006.
- Nui Te Koka. "Did I say that?" The Daily Telegraph.
January 30, 1999, pg 33.
- Grobel, Lawrence. Grobel, Lawrence. The art of the interview:
lessons from a master of the craft. Three Rivers Press,
2004. Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized May 21,
2008. ISBN 1400050715. p. 151.
- DeAngelis, Michael. Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom.
Duke University Press, 2001. ISBN
0822327384p. 166.
- "Braveheart Stands Athwart a Brave New World."
National Review. November 1, 2004.
- "It's Modern Crucifixion." World Net
Daily.
- "Mel Gibson joins stars to question Iraq war."
Sydney Morning Herald. March 18, 2004.
- Wockner, Rex. "Mel Gibson, Circa 1992, "Refuses to Apologize to
Gays"." San Francisco Bay Times. August 17, 2006
- "Mel Gibson to Meet Up-and-Coming Lesbian and Gay
Filmmakers." glaad.org.
- Rotello, Gabriel. "Gays Should Beware of Men in Kilts." New
York Newsday. June 1, 1995.
- Clinton, Paul. "Review: A powerful, personal 'Passion'." CNN.
February 25, 2004.
- Some criticism of The Passion
- USCCB stance on The Passion
dramatizations
- Gibson's Anti-Semitic Tirade - Alleged Cover
Up; TMZ.com;
July 28, 2006
- Mel Gibson: Clowning Around. Anecdotage.com
Accessed August 3, 2006
- The Passion of Mel Gibson Jan. 19, 2003,
Time.com Accessed September 9, 2007
- Wensley Clarkson's "Mel Gibson: Living Dangerously", page
287
- Mel's Other 'Passion': Practical Jokes Accessed September 2,
2007, etonline.com
- Teaser Trailer. Frame 2546. Timecode 01:01:47:03.
Time 00:01:46
- "Rant aftermath a gift, says Gibson."
Herald Sun. January 15, 2007.
- The Advertiser. September 22, 1991
- Higgins, Bill. Los Angeles Times. December 14,
1992.
- "Mel Gibson Praised for Progress in Alcohol
Rehab." Newsmax. May 12, 2007.
- "Actor and Director Mel Gibson Donates $10
Million." UCLA.edu Newsroom.
- "Mel's $14m donation." Sydney Morning
Herald. October 13, 2004.
- "Mel Gibson gives Rotary $1 million for Mexico
disaster recovery." Rotary.org.
- "Mel Gibson Reveals His Apocalypto."
comingsoon.net. October 30, 2006.
- "Gibson Saves Love From Drugs." February 1,
2007.
- "Mel Gibson Meets With Costa Rican Leader."
ABC News. July 10, 2007.
- "Mel
Gibson Backs Green Rubber." EcoRazzi.com. July 12, 2007.
Bibliography
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