STACK November 2016 Issue 145

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A BRAVE HEART
One of Australia’s premier actor-directors, Mel Gibson makes
his glorious return behind the camera with Hacksaw Ridge,
and star Teresa Palmer has nothing but praise for the director
and her leading man, Andrew Garfield. Words Gill Pringle
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14 NOVEMBER 2016
CINEMA
BUZZ
Casting Andrew Garfield in the lead role of
WWII hero Desmond T. Doss, Mel Gibson
continues to explore his fascination
with warfare following his roles in The Patriot,
Gallipoli, We Were Soldiers , The Year of Living
Dangerously and his directorial debut with
1995 Oscar-winner Braveheart, in which he also
portrayed 14th Century Scottish rebel William
Wallace.
After a decade of personal turmoil,
unwelcome media attention and underwhelming
ensemble performances in mediocre macho
movies like The Expendables 3 and Machete
Kills, Gibson returns to his focus behind the
camera, directing Garfield as an army medic
who served during the Battle of Okinawa, and
who, in his refusal to kill people, became the
first Conscientious Objector in American history
to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge leading lady Teresa
Palmer left the set with nothing less than awe
her director. “I loved him. We had a really good
rapport. He is such a fantastic director. I mean,
he’s been acting for so many years. He knows
how to converse with actors in a way that helps
you to understand the character. He knows how
to meet your needs for the scene. He’s just a
really special guy and making this film was just a
wonderful experience.
“One of the things I noticed about him is that
he is so generous with his time with people and
he knew everyone’s name on the crew and he
would sit down and give everyone the time of
day and really ask them about their life and ask
good questions. He cared about people and I
loved that, and I could feel that and the crew
just fell in love with him. I’m very proud of the
movie.”
Palmer reserves her biggest praise for
Andrew Garfield: “He is breathtaking in this film.
It’s my favourite performance I’ve witnessed of
his. So beautiful. I hope everyone takes notice
and he gets nominated.”
The actress doesn’t hold back on her
enthusiasm for Hacksaw Ridge, despite the fact
she still hasn‘t seen a final cut when STACK
meets with her in Los Angeles. “A lot of my
team have seen it and given me the feedback
that it’s amazing; Mel’s best film ever – and I’ve
loved all his other movies. So hopefully it lives
up to the hype.”
Palmer has nothing but sympathy for Gibson’s
unfortunate media maelstrom. “Everyone, I
think, has moments in their life where they
are going through things, but it’s very rare that
they’re on a public stage and that things play
out in the media and publicly and if some of
my family’s meltdowns were public it would
be mortifying. I just went into this experience
knowing that I would have my own dynamic
with him and I’d come in without any sort of
judgment or expectations and I was just really
blown away by him in a really positive way.”
Hacksaw Ridge is in cinemas on Nov 3.
Teresa Palmer and
Andrew Garfield