The experience of film master Martin Scorsese can partly prove how difficult it is to win the Academy Award for Best Director, who has been nominated 9 times in the past 40 years, but only won the award in 2007 for the "Infernal Walker" controversy, because it is not his best work, but rather the compensation given to him by the academy.
Martin Scorsese
The Infernal Walker
In the history of cinema, there are some special circumstances, such as the case of actors winning directors' awards, among which Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson are the most famous, and their awards are not unjust, false and wrongly decided, and their award-winning works are also very important. Truth be told, "Dancing with Wolves" and "Braveheart" are almost perfect in their fusion of art and commerce. The fact that both films won best picture awards at the same time is telling.
Kevin Costner
Mel Gibson
Dancing with Wolves
Braveheart
When Braveheart was filmed, director Mel Gibson was 40 years old, and he played William Wallace, who was only in his 20s, and he thought that his age did not match the role, so he did not intend to star in person, but instead wanted To play William Wallace, who was 10 years younger than himself.
Jason Patrick
However, Paramount Pictures did not agree, and even put forward Gibson's harsh demand that he immediately withdraw his investment if he did not act. This is the so-called superstar effect, and Paramount must not have expected Braveheart to achieve such a high artistic achievement, but from the beginning, it was a good calculation to pull the box office through gibson's influence.
William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson
In the end, Braveheart grossed 210 million with a $72 million investment (210 million in the 1990s), and Paramount achieved unprecedented success in art and commerce. And we must also admit that although it was not nominated for Best Actor, Gibson's William Wallace was very successful.
In order to play the role well, Gibson even lived with members of the real-life William Wallace family and studied history, and invited them to appear in the film.
Mel Gibson, the director of Braveheart
Jason Patrick, who did not win the role of William Wallace, has never stepped into the first line of his career and has now been forgotten. It has to be said that there is also an element of luck in the career of an actor.
Mel Gibson: William Wallace