This Article is From Jun 16, 2014

Mel Gibson Reveals What Made Braveheart Battle Scenes Unique

Mel Gibson Reveals What Made Braveheart Battle Scenes Unique

Mel Gibson has shared the secret of staging his much-admired battle scenes in Braveheart.

Highlights

  • Actor Mel Gibson, who directed Braveheart, shared the secret of staging his much-admired battle scenes in the historical classic.
  • Mr Gibson portrayed the role of William Wallace, a Scottish warrior who fought against Kind Edward I in the First War of Scottish Independence.
  • "The thing I wanted out of the battle sequences was clarity. I've seen a lot of these battle movies and they just turn into mush," Empire magazine quoted him.
  • "I broke it down to archers and horses and hand-to-hand and who had the high ground and the low ground, everybody was clearly delineated, even though it was often the same bunch of people playing different parts.”
  • "We had the guys from the Irish Army, and one day they were all dressed like Scots and the next day they'd be English. I think there's a scene where somebody actually kills himself," he added.
  • Asked if there were any serious injuries on the set, he said, "There was a horse that nearly killed me. He had a good trick where he did this whole rear-up thing, but he had also fall backwards, which is a problem if you've fallen off first and you're behind him."
  • "He did that to me. My stunt double ran in and pulled me out of the way just as the horse fell," he added.
Los Angeles: Actor Mel Gibson, who directed Braveheart, shared the secret of staging his much-admired battle scenes in the historical classic.

Mr Gibson portrayed the role of William Wallace, a Scottish warrior who fought against Kind Edward I in the First War of Scottish Independence. (Also read: Bad guys are always more fun: Mel Gibson)

"The thing I wanted out of the battle sequences was clarity. I've seen a lot of these battle movies and they just turn into mush," Empire magazine quoted him.

"I broke it down to archers and horses and hand-to-hand and who had the high ground and the low ground, everybody was clearly delineated, even though it was often the same bunch of people playing different parts."

"We had the guys from the Irish Army, and one day they were all dressed like Scots and the next day they'd be English. I think there's a scene where somebody actually kills himself," he added.

Asked if there were any serious injuries on the set, he said, "There was a horse that nearly killed me. He had a good trick where he did this whole rear-up thing, but he had also fall backwards, which is a problem if you've fallen off first and you're behind him." (Also read: Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas to star in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables 3)

"He did that to me. My stunt double ran in and pulled me out of the way just as the horse fell," he added.

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