Source: The seattle Times
Posted: 1996

Mel Gibson is widely known as one of the most relaxed actors in Hollywood, but this is ridiculous.

His deep, rich voice raw from four days of interviews, his stunningly blue eyes half-closed, one wonders if he is about to nod off mid-interview. He assures the interviewer that the questions are not putting him to sleep.

The Oscar-winning director and producer of "Braveheart" and star of director Ron Howard's suspense film "Ransom" - which opened Friday and took the No. 1 spot at the box office, pulling in $34.2 million in ticket sales for the weekend - explains that he is shooting his next film with Julia Roberts at night and has missed his normal daylight sleep while doing the press junket for "Ransom."

"You're the end of the line," he says between yawns to the person conducting the last interview of the junket. "After you, I get to go to sleep."

Gibson has certainly earned the rest. The Roberts film, "Conspiracy Theory," began immediately after "Ransom" was completed, and both were shot on the streets of New York City. If the back-to-back schedule wasn't grueling enough, Gibson was out of action for two weeks in the middle of shooting "Ransom" because of emergency surgery after an appendicitis attack.

Oh, and right after the surgery, he had to fly to Los Angeles to pick up his two Oscars.

"That whole night was like an out-of-body experience," Gibson says of the ceremony that anointed him the official king of the Hollywood hill.

"I was so tired and out of it, it was like watching myself from a distance. But I still had a lot of fun. I was pretty relaxed after they called my name."

Interestingly, he says he was relaxed during most of the filming of "Ransom," despite its dark and chilling plot about the kidnapping of a wealthy airline owner's son. The kidnapping takes a dramatic and unexpected turn when the desperate father turns the tables on the kidnappers and makes them the hunted.

"The subject matter is indeed heavy, and of course it hits pretty close to home since I am a father, but I still would not call it a difficult shoot," the actor says.

"Kidnapping is not something I worry about much in this country, and I do not tend to get caught up in my roles. Compared to the responsibility of my last film (`Braveheart'), this was a breeze. I was just the hired hand; it's not like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders like Ron."


Both Gibson and Howard are quick to defend their movie against critics who question whether it is healthy to tap into the worst fears of a parent.

"I had to answer that question myself before I would agree to do the movie," Howard says. "It's not that I was worried about setting off wackos, but it was a matter of whether I wanted to live with thinking about this ultimate fear for the period it takes to make a movie.

"I sat down with my wife, and we decided that there was justification for doing this project. It was a great story with wonderful twists and turns. It did tap into that fear, but I think we did it responsibly."