Mel Gibson as Director: Style, Themes, and Epic Films

Biographical Background

Born Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson in January 1956, Mel Gibson is one of the most controversial yet well-known actors and filmmakers in America. When Gibson was a teenager, his parents moved the family — including Mel and his ten siblings — to Australia, ostensibly to prevent their children from being drafted into the Vietnam War ("Mel Gibson Biography"). Gibson completed his high school and university education in the Sydney area, where he also became involved in theater. His early forays into acting eventually earned him a role in Mad Max, his first major acting part. The first Mad Max film was released in 1979; by the third installment, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, in 1985, Gibson was earning over a million dollars per performance ("Mel Gibson Biography"). In 1987, he starred alongside Danny Glover in the buddy action film Lethal Weapon.

Gibson made his directorial debut with The Man Without a Face in 1993. In 1995, he directed Braveheart, which earned him considerable critical accolades, including several Academy Awards. His next major directorial project was The Passion of the Christ in 2004, a highly controversial film that exposed Gibson's anti-Semitic views — views inculcated in part by a father who was a Holocaust denier (Brennan). Shortly after the film's release, Gibson was stopped on drunk driving charges and was recorded making anti-Semitic remarks. Those comments cost him the funding for a Holocaust film he had planned to produce (Brennan).

Despite this damaging public relations setback, Gibson continued his directorial career. He directed Apocalypto, released in 2006, and the critically acclaimed Hacksaw Ridge in 2016.

Major Contributions to Film

Despite his controversies, personal beliefs, and a somewhat tarnished public persona, Mel Gibson has contributed significantly to American cinema through a unique approach to epic drama. Although he began his career specializing in action franchises like Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, he became well established in Hollywood as both actor and director. Gibson worked deliberately to break out of action-film typecasting by founding his own production company, Icon.

Icon produced dramas such as Immortal Beloved (1994) and Anna Karenina (1997). Gibson himself starred in Icon dramas like Hamlet (1990), directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Throughout the 1990s, however, Gibson also continued to appear in "poorly received" films ("Mel Gibson"). It was not until he directed and starred in Braveheart in 1995 that Gibson received serious attention from the Academy. Braveheart was distinctive in that it combined the epic historical drama genre with the action tropes audiences already found familiar. Gibson continued to refine similar themes and stories in The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, and Hacksaw Ridge — all of which are grounded in historical narratives.