Even before starring in "The River", Mel had commited to another picture to be helmed by Australian director Gilliam Arm- strong. "Mrs. Soffel" is a somber romance loosely based on a forgotten incident in the history of American crime. The wife of a prison warden falls for a condemned prisoner, Eddie Biddle. This romance led to a scandalous jailbreak in 1901, Pittsburg. Their love story has a tragical end and Kate winds up in the slammer herself, her name and reputation destroyed for the sake of love.
In "Mrs. Soffel", Gibson was paired with the Academy award-winning actress, Diane Keaton. Matthew Modine was cast to play Jack Biddle.
Shooting took place in Canada. In January 1984, the entire Gibson family arrived in Toronto for the beginning of the film shoot, but many of Gibson´s scenes were shot in other location, outside the city, As a result, he would only return at the weekends. Robyn was expecting the couple´s fourth child and soon she and the children decided that life at home (Australia) was far preferable to winter in Canada. Mel was devastated by Robyn´s decision and became restless and unhappy.
The miserable shooting conditions, Mel had to endure subzero temperatures and painfully slow setups for each scene, along with the constant studio-politics problems on the production sank Mel into the depths of despair. On April 25th, Gibson ran a red light and hit another vehicle. A minimal incident, but when the police arrived the breath tests showed the actor was over the legal limit of alcohol allowed for drivers. He was charged with impaired driving and received a three month suspension and a $300 fine.
Meanwhile Gilliam Armstrong was "enjoying" a lot of problems. The studio wanted desperately to cut costs and prohibit her from shooting some scenes. Loyally, Mel and Diane sided with Gilliam throughout hard times. Finally, the interior shots in the prison were filmed and after eight days in Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) filming was at long last completed.
"Mrs. Soffel" had its premiere just in time to qualify for Academy Award nominations, not one of which received. The critics were blunt. And the film made a ridiculous amount at the box office, 3,9 million. Final estimates of the film budget were in the region of $15 million and Mel´s fee was $700.000.
"What appealed to me in the script was the prison bars. It´s interesting how the two characters work to get around them, and eventually they lose them. There´s always a great obstacle in a good love story."
MRS. SOFFEL
Director: Gilliam Armstrong
Producers: J. Scherick, Scott Rudin, David Nicksay
Screenwriter: Ron Nyswaner
Editor: Nicholas Beauman
Photography: Russell Boyd
Music: Mark Isham
Cast: Mel Gibson, Diane Keaton, Matthew Modine, Edward Herrmann, Trini Alvarado, Jennie Dundas.
USA 1984
"They´ve scheduled it so I work only every fifth or sith day because they think I might run off to Australia and never come back."
BIOGRAPHY
