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Mel Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American-born Australian-reared movie actor, director, and producer best known for his role in the Lethal Weapon series and Braveheart.
Gibson was born in Peekskill, New York as one of 11 children, but raised in Australia from the age of 12. He maintained his U.S. citizenship.
In 1996 he received two Academy Awards (Best Director and Best Picture) for the film Braveheart (1995), which though popular with audiences was criticised by historians as "dramatically inaccurate" and "nonsense".
Following a victory on the Jeopardy! game show, Gibson's father Hutton moved his family to Australia in the 1970s in protest of the Vietnam War and because he believed that changes in American society were immoral. Gutton is associated with far right wing traditionalist Roman Catholic movements and has been accused by critics of Holocaust denial.
The Passion
Mel Gibson recent complete the controversial movie, The Passion, a 12-hour film in the Aramaic language. The movie has received praise by many conservative Christians, but has been heavily criticised by many Catholic and Jewish scholars, some of whom have claimed it promotes anti-Semitism and contains serious historical errors. A committee of inter-faith scholars who attempted to work on the script had their attempts rebutted by Gibson.
Gibson was asked if his movie would be offensive to Jews today; his response was "It's not meant to. I think it's meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible. But when you look at the reasons Christ came, he was crucified-he died for all mankind and he suffered for all mankind. So that, really, anyone who transgresses has to look at their own part or look at their own culpability."
Gibson originally claimed that this movie was based solely on the New Testament; however it has more recently been revealed that it is inspired by the writings of a 19th-century nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich, whose writing were accused of promoting anti-semitism.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil-rights group publicly criticised Gibson's film.
Selected Filmography
- Signs (2002)
- We Were Soldiers (2002)
- Chicken Run (2000)
- The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
- The Patriot (2000)
- What Women Want (2000)
- PayBack (1999)
- Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
- Conspiracy Theory (1997)
- Fairy Tale: A True Story (1997, uncredited)
- Father's Day (1997, uncredited)
- Ransom (1996)
- Braveheart (1995, also directed)
- Pocahontas (1995, voice)
- Maverick (1994)
- The Man Without a Face (1993, also directed)
- Forever Young (1992)
- Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
- Air America (1990)
- Bird on a Wire (1990)
- Hamlet (1990)
- Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
- Tequila Sunrise (1998)
- Lethal Weapon (1987)
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
- The Bounty (1984)
- Mrs. Soffle (1984)
- The River (1984)
- Attack Force Z (1982)
- The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
- Gallipoli (1981)
- Mad Max (1979)
- Tim (1979)
- Summer City (1977)