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Mel Gibson’s Oscars Nomination Symbolizes Acceptance Back Into Hollywood

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 02:03 PST, Feb 5, 2017

Mel Gibson’s first directorial effort in 10 years was rewarded with a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival last year, a sign that perhaps Hollywood was finally prepared to forgive and forget. Hacksaw Ridge has landed many nominations for both Gibson and the star of the highly successful movie, Andrew Garfield.

Vanity Fair reported that it’s now just over 10 years since Gibson’s infamous arrest in Los Angeles, but today it seems that the disgraced actor and director is back on track and being welcomed with open arms.

Back in 2011 when Jodie Foster put the disgraced actor in her movie, The Beaver, the general opinion in Hollywood was this was way too soon for Gibson. It was just a short five years earlier that Gibson had burned almost every bridge in town with his anti-Semitic, drunken, misogynistic rants.

But now Mel Gibson has been nominated for his second directing Oscar. The general consensus was that the star of Hacksaw Ridge, Andrew Garfield, would receive an acting nomination; however, many predicted that Denzel Washington’s Fences, Garth Davis’ Lion, or Martin Scorsese’s Silence would fill the fifth nomination slot for directing – but, it went to Gibson! Just recently Gibson was left out of the Directors Guild of America nominations, and there’s been a definite awkwardness around the whole Gibson issue when it comes to Hacksaw Ridge and the Awards campaign.

Andrew Garfield thanked Mel Gibson when he accepted an award at the Palm Springs Film Festival.

“I want to specifically thank Mel Gibson, a truly great storyteller and a beauty, beauty, beauty of a man. As far as I know him.”

Gibson has always had his supporters, and Danny Glover, Gibson’s co-star in the Lethal Weapon series, is just one of them.

“I think I know Mel, in his heart, and I think he’s not the way he’s been characterized.”

With the huge success of Hacksaw Ridge and nominations for the movie, Andrew Garfield, and also for Gibson himself, it seems that the actor has finally found his way back into the inner circle of Hollywood.

Gibson and Vince Vaughn, who also featured in Hacksaw Ridge, have both signed on for Dragged Across Concrete, a movie written and directed by S. Craig Zahler. Getting this part is a big deal for Gibson because Zahler has just achieved huge success with Bone Tomahawk.

It seems that Gibson’s star is on the rise, with the lead in an action thriller, an Oscar nomination, other job offers, and a potential sequel to Passion of the Christ; and not forgetting that he’s just become a father for the ninth time. His 26-year-old girlfriend, Rosalind Ross, has just given birth to their son, Lars.

Andrew Garfield told Graham Norton, the chat show host, that Gibson’s damaged reputation in Hollywood was something he looked at very carefully prior to signing on for Hacksaw Ridge.

“Obviously you hear things and you read things about a dark patch in his life but for me it was about meeting him. All I knew was that I loved him as an actor and as a filmmaker but I wanted to know the man.”

The Huffington Post reported that Garfield was warned off Gibson, but now he loves the director of Hacksaw Ridge, the movie that’s brought him his first Oscar nomination.

“He’s come through the dark into the light. I met him and very quickly I felt very comfortable and happy to work with him. We talked about that period of time in his life and it’s very evident he has done a lot of healing and come through the dark into the light. He is a wonderful man and I adore him.”

On February 26, Andrew Garfield will be competing with Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Denzel Washington (Fences), and Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) at the Academy Awards. At the Golden Globe awards, Garfield lost out to Ryan Gosling.

In the past, fans have known and loved Gibson in Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, and even as the Scottish warrior William Wallace; and now after a lost decade he’s made his comeback with Hacksaw Ridge.

Newsday reports that it was in 2014 that Robert Downey Jr. spoke up for Gibson when he told Deadline that Gibson was now a fundamentally different man. In addition, he only agreed to appear in Ironman 4 if Gibson was allowed to direct the movie.

Andrew Garfield starred in Hacksaw Ridge as a real-life pacifist soldier in World War II. The movie very quickly became a box office success, with its strong Christian imagery, non-violent message, and shocking battles sequences, earning Gibson high praise for his brilliant directing skills.

[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

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