film

Do you enjoy looking back at Braveheart and having the opportunity to be part of it again?

Mel Gibson: Yeah, it's nice to look back. I was just talking the other night about how you slave away over something until you're sick of the sight of it and you can't wait to get it off your fingers. But in retrospect, it's interesting and it's a piece of you. I'm proud of this work and it's great it can have this kind of life on Blu-ray. You can get pretty close to the cinematic experience.

After 15 years, are there things you would have done differently today?

Mel Gibson: Of course. I remember when we were sitting in the editing room, even as soon as three months after, I was like "Oh, why didn't I..." The studio was really, really leaning on us to get some time out of it. I think there's around another hour of this lying around that no one's ever seen. It was hard.

How aware were you of the impact the film had, particularly in Scotland?

Mel Gibson: I remember the premiere in Edinburgh. I'd never seen anything like it. There was so much feeling and fervour about the subject and about what it meant. It hit a chord. In every culture, no matter where you come from, you're looking for an identity and to have it displayed to the world. I'm aware of what it did there, although I haven't gone back since, I'm afraid. I'd never get sober!

What's the enduring appeal of the film?

Mel Gibson: It's like a Boys' Own adventure in a way. It's exciting, it's tragic, it's funny and it's also inspiring. It appealed to me when I read it, and it's written by someone [screenwriter Randall Wallace] who's very passionate about the stories he tells. It reflects his feelings on honour and heroism and sacrifice, which are things we'd all like to display but may not be capable of. There's a hero like that in every culture. It's a universal theme and it's the stuff of great stories.

Was there a responsibility to make sure your depiction of William Wallace was authentic?

Mel Gibson: Well, it wasn't necessarily authentic. Some of the stuff I read about Wallace suggests he wasn't as nice as we saw him up there. We romanticised it a bit, but that's the language of film - you have to make it cinematically acceptable. He had his faults, but we shifted the balance a bit, because someone's got to be the good guys and the bad guys. It's the way stories are told - they always have a bias and a point of view.

Does the attention paid to the historical inaccuracies bother you?

Mel Gibson: No, because what I'm doing is giving you a cinematic experience first, educational second and inspirational third. If you can get those three, that's great. There are a few good histories on Wallace, but all of them have gaps and holes. There were probably quite a few historical inaccuracies, but maybe there weren't. Who's to say? But it didn't bother me much.

How was your experience of filming in Scotland?

Mel Gibson: It was a beautiful place to work, right at the foot of Ben Nevis. You looked through the camera and it was just magic. We decided early on that it didn't matter if it rained or it shone, we were going to carry on shooting. I think there were the ghosts of kilted Clansmen rising from the moors going:, "Yeah, put the camera over there!" It really felt like that sometimes.

What advice were you given about your Scottish accent?

Mel Gibson: I was just up there listening to people. It kind of sinks in a little bit. I don't know that I got it right - it seemed a bit forced sometimes, but close enough. The Scots made me feel really comfortable about it, and they helped me.

You haven't directed and acted in the same film since Braveheart. Did you swear you'd never do it again?

Mel Gibson: Yes I did. I said I'm not doing it any more because it wears you out. I couldn't talk for about a month afterwards. People would ask me a question and I'd stare at them blankly and drool. I lost 15 pounds during the production.

How have you changed in the past 15 years

Mel Gibson: In lots of ways. In some ways I'm a lot better because maturity brings things out and in some ways I just wish I had that youthful spring again, but it's a trade-off.

You haven't starred in a film since Signs in 2002. Why did you go back to a lead role in Edge of Darkness?

Mel Gibson: It felt like a long enough time had elapsed. I just felt like doing it again. You just get used up and you feel you're not going to be doing anything new or it's not going to be exciting for me, so I just kind of dropped back for a while.

What's left for you to do?

Mel Gibson: To direct more stuff. I don't know what that is yet, though. You want to supersede yourself if you can. Not just the same kind of thing either, but you want to find other avenues of expression and try to do it as well as you can. Who wants to go and do a p***-poor job?