Last week, Mel Gibson premiered the latest movie he directed, “Hacksaw Ridge” at the Sheen Center in Manhattan. Before the movie, Gibson sat down with the center’s director for a talkback about the movie.
Hacksaw Ridge is the incredible true story of Desmond Doss, the Medal of Honor recipient for bravery in battle though he had never held a gun through all of World War II. Below, Gibson discusses why he did the movie and why it was important to him.
Interviewer: Mel, this is the kind of story where if Hollywood had invented it, no one would have believed it. What was it about this story that made you say…not only do I want to tell it, but I want to direct?
Mel Gibson: Well, it’s a very inspiring and compelling story–it seemed to be suited perfectly for the cinema. If you’re going to spend 18 months of your life on something, sometimes two years, you want to make sure it’s a story that’s worth more. And it definitely was. I found it inspiring–I had tears on page 54, and it got worse from there. And it had this perfect juxtaposition…the screenplay, we did it in two acts. I kind of had this vision of a Norman Rockwell painting jammed up against a Hieronymus Bosch painting–together you have ideal, sweet innocence and you take the same people into the other painting and it’s the death of innocence. It’s hell, it’s war. I wanted to give people an idea of what that feels like.
Interviewer: You keep [Desmond Doss’s] faith front and center. Why was that so important to you? To keep the integrity of that?
MG: That’s intrinsic to the man. And if you don’t have that, it’s hard to understand the story. Who could do what he did without something greater than himself? Who could do that? He’s an extremely humble man and the definition of humility. That’s just who he was, you can’t ignore that.
Interviewer: Hollywood cinema now has largely become the cinema of cynicism. Even Superman’s a cynic. In this film, you have made goodness and ideals attractive. Whether you believe or not, you leave this film feeling uplifted and inspired. Was that something you intended or being honest to who Desmond Doss was?
MG: I think that’s true to who he was. And what he did, oh my god you can’t deny it. I mean, it’s unbelievable. There’s a stigma attached to faith movies, that they have to be crummy or less than, but we can make a good film and have that be a part of it. Not many do, there’s some crummy ones. I mean, we’ve ‘Ben-Hur’ before.
Interviewer: What was the advice you first got from Clint Eastwood when you first started directing?
MG: I called him and I was like, “Clint, I’m scared.” And he told me on the phone (Clint Eastwood voice) “I know. You can’t be scared.” “What do I do?” He says, (in Clint Eastwood voice) “Just say action and cut.”