The release of "Hacksaw Ridge" directed by Mel Gibson in the mainland is really "eye-opening", the film has a breathtaking war scene, a reflection on the time and the excavation of the good and evil of human nature. Gibson, the tough guy actor in the audience's heart, is really extraordinary. Mel Gibson's first identity in the minds of audiences over the years was that of a "tough guy actor," presumably because his tough guy roles in Braveheart and The Patriot were too deeply rooted.
Behind the aura of an actor, Mel Gibson is actually a very good film director, there are many actors in the world who "act and direct", but few people can reach the highest position in the directing world like him and win the Academy Award for Best Director. The films he has directed over the years have been linked to highly controversial historical topics, and the work directed by the "tough guy" has even provoked a cultural debate in the United States in the early 21st century, and has been called "a director who never lost his hand".
Mel Gibson was born in New York, but his family moved to New South Wales, Australia, when he was 12. Gibson received a higher education in Australia and studied acting at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. After graduating from school, Mel Gibbon did not enter the film industry directly, but joined the South Australian Theatre Company as an actor.
He has appeared in many world-famous plays in the troupe, such as Shakespeare's plays, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and Beckett's absurdist play Waiting for Godot. We talk about Mel Gibson today, and we often associate him with huge film investments, gig fees, and box office, but a great actor has to go through hard work to achieve great things.
Gibson's films are "commercial" enough, and his extraordinary nature is inextricably linked to his early stage career. Most of the stars in the Western film industry have engaged in theatrical art, and after becoming international stars, they still insist on performing on stage. The drama stage cultivates the actor's ability to appreciate the script, analyze the characters and shape the ability, and the drama also prompts the actor to think about profound propositions related to human history and human destiny. The benefits of drama for actors are fully reflected in Gibson today. On the other hand, our domestic stars, while applauding "Hacksaw Ridge", also need to understand Mel Gibson's early life experience in order to reflect on why they can't be so good.
In 1979, Mel Gibson first entered the film industry and starred in the science fiction film "Mad Max" directed by George Miller, in which he played the main character Max. In 1981 he starred in Mad Max 2. In 2015, "Mad Max 4" met the audience, and after many years, fans still followed the film. But if it is a contribution, I am afraid that Mel Gibson has contributed the most to the film, he has created max's image of a road policeman who abandoned the police badge and countered violence with violence very deeply, without the beauty of the tough guy in Max today, but with the excellent inner shaping in the action scenes.
After Mad Max, the film that laid the foundation for Mel Gibson as a Hollywood tough guy actor was the film "Lethal Weapon", in which Gibson played detective Reg who had just lost his wife, and in his film "The City where Everyone Is Trying to Commit Suicide", he appeared as a sad and courageous image, and his melancholy and brave temperament were extremely popular with female audiences. Beginning with Lethal Weapon, Mel Gibson began his path to Hollywood superstardom.
At this point, we should have continued to comb down Mel Gibson's path to stardom. But wait, in the years since Mel Gibson's growth as an action star, he has achieved great success on another, more artistic path to cinema. In 1979, Mel Gibson starred in "Mad Max" and also starred in the Australian literary film "Tim Loves Me", which is about a mentally handicapped young man who is a middle-aged widow gardener, and the two have a love that others cannot understand. In the film, Mel Gibson plays Tim, a mentally handicapped youth.
In 1981, he participated in the filming of the feature film Gallipoli. Both films made him bigger than the Film Awards at the Australian Homegrown Film Festival. Standing today, it may be difficult to associate the tough man Mel Gibson with the role of mentally handicapped youth, but great actors can always match those "great roles".
In 1990, Mel Gibson founded the film company Idol Productions and produced films such as Hamlet and Forever Young. On the road to fame, Mel Gibson "double-line parallel", one line is to comb his Hollywood tough guy image, the other line is to insist on his own artistic pursuits.
Beginning in 1993, Mel Gibson began his own path as a director. In this year, his directorial debut " Faceless Man " was born. The boy in the film, Chuck, has a broken and lonely family, and his dream is to be admitted to the school where his father went before his death. Chuck stumbles upon the "monster", the disfigured man, McLeo. McLeos, a former teacher, was disfigured in a car accident and lost his student. Gradually, Chuck and Macrio develop a friendship, and they are like father and son.
Looking back at Mel Gibson's directorial debut today, it can be said that he chose a "hard mode" at that time, Gibson himself played the role of disfigured teacher in the film, this role does not show his handsomeness, nor his tough guy style, he can only show excellent role modeling ability.
"Braveheart" won five Oscars
In 1995, two years after "acting and directing", Mel Gibson ushered in the peak of his career: his self-directed film Braveheart was released, causing a sensation around the world. Although the film did not land in Chinese mainland theaters, Chinese audiences watched the film through channels such as purchasing DVDs and television broadcasts, so Chinese audiences are also very familiar with Mel Gibson. Set against the backdrop of court politics in England in the 13th and 14th centuries, Braveheart is a war-based film that tells the story of William Wallace, the leader of the Scottish Uprising, and the rulers of England. Mel Gibson himself played Wallace in the film. In 1996, the film won five awards at the 68th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won the Best Director Award at the 53rd Golden Globe Awards.
When we think of Braveheart now, we think of Mel Gibson's wonderful performance in the film, especially the "freedom" he shouted before Wallace was beheaded at the end of the film, which has become one of his personal identities. Because Gibson played the character of Wallace too deeply, few people noticed that he won the Academy Award for Best Director, the Very Best Actor Award. But interestingly, after the film was released, it was protested in the United Kingdom, and many English people must feel very uncomfortable.
A "god-level" actor paid in Hollywood
Braveheart made Mel Gibson the world's most watched Hollywood superstar. This aura lasted for five years.
In 2000, Mel Gibson used the films "Patriot" and "100 Percent Of Men" to make himself a Hollywood "god" superstar. Mel Gibson portrayed Benjamin Martin, the hero of the American Revolutionary War, in the epic war film The Patriot. The film received rave reviews after its release, and the film also received three nominations, including the Best Cinematography Award at the 73rd Academy Awards.
"The Patriot" made Mel Gibson the highest-paid actor in Hollywood at the time, and his salary jumped to $25 million from the beginning of the film. Someone complained at the time that if it weren't for Mel Gibson's money, the visual effects of "The Patriot" could have been better. Interestingly, "The Patriot" is as upsetting to the British as Braveheart, but Uncle May doesn't care if you're happy or unhappy.
Mel Gibson further strengthened his image as the world's number one tough guy with "The Patriot," and he starred in the comedy film 100 Percent of Men, which captured the hearts of many female audiences who already admired him.
In the film, Mel Gibson transforms from a tough guy to a gentle little man who can read minds and understand the new voices of her fierce female boss. To say that Uncle Mei can "thirty-six changes" on the screen, it is also due to his excellent acting skills. In 2000, Mel Gibson proved himself not only a world-class director, but also a world-class actor who can handle different types of roles.
The Passion of the Christ provokes a great discussion of American culture
In 2000, Mel Gibson's acting career was in full swing, and rumors about him began to spread. For example, he was a serious alcoholic, drunk and even suicidal, and even Hollywood's gold managers called on all Hollywood producers not to work with the alcoholic Mel Gibson. The famous American cartoon "South Park" also made the alcoholic Mel Gibson the object of ridicule.
Amid all the criticism, Mel Gibson began his most controversial filmmaking. In 2004, he directed the most controversial American film of the 21st century, The Passion of the Christ. The film shows the twelve hours before Jesus' crucifixion, and uses extremely cruel camera language to show the flogging torture that Jesus suffered in the last moments of his life.
The film was a sensation because no previous work had ever directly depicted the flesh and skin suffering of Jesus. With Jesus beaten to the flesh of the flesh and the constant flow of blood donation, The Passion of the Christ challenges the audience's psychological endurance. The film grossed more than $370 million in the United States and sparked a big debate about Hollywood film culture. The film provoked a controversy between Catholics and Jews, and even some people were anti-Semitic, and he himself carried the hat of "anti-Semitism". Although Mel Gibson has publicly clarified that he is not an anti-Semite, he has never been able to completely get rid of the negative impact of the film on him.
The benchmark of the violent aesthetic of Apocalypse
In 2006, Mel Gibson directed the restrictive film Apocalypse, which was equally blockbuster that year. The film tells the story of gaguar Bao, the protagonist, who fights and rebels against the rulers of the Mayan Empire in order to protect his family when the Mayan Empire is about to collapse. Gibson starred in the film with descendants of native American tribes, bringing the audience a feast of violent aesthetics with an excellent original atmosphere. Apocalypse has profoundly influenced filmmakers around the world, and some of the similar films we've seen since 2006 have a shadow of Apocalypse.
After 2006, Mel Gibson did not direct a film for 10 years, and this time meeting Chinese mainland audiences, "Hacksaw Ridge" is his second appearance as a film director ten years later. During this decade, Mel Gibson starred in films such as Mr. Beaver, Mega Omen and Daredevil 3. Audiences are less receptive to a down-to-earth Actor Mel Gibson, who relished gibson's negative press and treated him as a tough guy who loved to mess with him.
Stripped of all the criticisms, Mel Gibson can be regarded as a film artist who has achieved great success in both acting and directing in today's film industry. Hacksaw Ridge once again brought Mel Gibson to the center of the world's attention, and after a decade of silence, such a successful return is the best proof of his artistic practice.
Editor: Yan Shuying