Mel Gibson poses for selfies with fans in Co Meath to mark 30 years of Braveheart film
Fans travelled from all over Ireland to get a chance of meeting the Oscar-winning actor and director, who starred as the Scottish hero in the historical epic.
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The film was mostly shot in Ireland – despite the story being set in Scotland – after the Irish Government lobbied and offered to supply 1,600 army reserves as extras.
Actor Mel Gibson signs posters in aid of the Irish Equity Support Fund at the Trim Castle Hotel, Co Meath (Conor O Mearain/PA)
People queued at Trim Castle Hotel to meet Gibson and other Braveheart cast members.
The event was held as part of the local King John Summer Prom festival, with proceeds raised for the Irish Equity Support Fund.
Maksim Okhotnikov, eight, dressed up as Braveheart hero William Wallace in a costume created by his mother, who also sketched a charcoal drawing of Gibson.
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'I didn't watch all of the film, I just watched pieces because it's (rated) 16+,' Maksim told the PA news agency.
Asked what he likes about the film, he said: 'I like himself'.
Actor Mel Gibson meets fans Adam Walker and his son Nathan, from Dublin (Conor O Mearain/PA)
Adam Walker and his son Nathan (7) from Dublin, were among the first people into the room to meet the cast.
'Obviously he's too young to watch the full movie, so I was trying to show him the quotes, the big freedom speech at the end of the movie. We were watching that, we were watching the mad Irishman of course: David O'Hara who plays Stephen of Ireland,' Mr Walker told PA.
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'We were at the Q&A yesterday and a lot of the lads pointed out that the actors said the thing that it did was it really changed things, Ireland seemed to really latch onto it, there was a lot of similarities between the Irish and the Scottish, but it seemed to call out to everybody.
'We were looking for a wedding venue 12 years back and we were looking everywhere and we found here, it was lovely, the prices were great, and then I read at the end the castle was where Braveheart was filmed.
'I said to my wife 'we're doing it' so we got married in the room just there and we had the castle as the backdrop.
'So it's very interesting to be able to come back 12 years later and actually meet Mel Gibson here, and this little lad wasn't even alive at the time.'
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Maksim Okhotnikov wore a costume created by his mother (Conor O Mearain/PA)
Elaine Coyle, who travelled with her mother from Dublin, said watching Braveheart was a family tradition.
'My dad would be a big fan, it's what we grew up with. It's a Christmas tradition in our house,' she said.
She said of the film: 'You can relate to it as an Irish person a little bit too, it's iconic.
'It definitely opened the door to the Irish economy around films, it completely changed how the industry worked going forward, but I think in general people recognise that it made such an impact on Ireland, and we can also relate to the history of it. It's generational.'
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Cousins Eileen Shields and Anita McGrath travelled from Galway at 6am to meet the star.
They said they are fans of Gibson's films Lethal Weapon and Daddy's Home 2.
Actor Mel Gibson records a video message for Rian Egan, from Gorey, Co Wexford (Conor O Mearain/PA)
'He has a wicked wink in his eye,' Eileen Shields said.
'It was lovely to meet him, short and sweet but it's nice to have the opportunity.
'Hopefully we see a lot more of him in Ireland. You know his family are from Longford, he was named after St Mel's Cathedral.'
Anita McGrath said: 'I crocheted a shamrock for him, for good luck, so I gave it to him and he said 'thanks very much'. Just something different.'
Ms Shields added: 'He wiped his brow with it.'
Sevinc Ozogul, who lives across the road from the hotel, said she was excited to see the castle from Braveheart when she moved to Trim.
She said Gibson is also one of her favourite actors, adding: 'I was so excited to see him.'
She added: 'He was a bit tired but he looks great.'
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Telegraph
3 hours ago
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In Loren's 2015 memoir Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, she recalled Grant introducing himself: 'He held out his hand, looking at me with a pinch of mischief: 'Miss Lolloloren, I presume? Or is it Miss Lorenigida? You Italians have such strange last names I can't seem to get them straight.'' It was a clear verbal reference to the other leading star of Italian cinema of the day, in the equally beauteous form of Gina Lollobrigida, who was seven years older than Loren and who had begun her career in Italian and international film just a few years beforehand. Both vied for the title of 'the world's most beautiful woman', a description that each of them received, at one time or another, and zealously guarded for as long as they might. A feud had started between the two that would duly become infamous, although both participants alternately claimed that it was simply a PR-confected fantasy or, more amusingly, that it was the other who was continuing it in order to maintain their presence in the headlines. In one of the relatively few pictures that exist of both actresses together in 1954, the body language makes it clear that they are not relishing sitting next to one another, and Lollobrigida, in particular, has an expression that suggests that she would really rather be elsewhere at that moment. The photograph was taken at the Italian Film Festival in London, in the presence of Elizabeth II; Loren attracted most of the media attention due to her ornate outfit, which included a fittingly regal cape and crown. 'The most beloved Italian export since spaghetti' The two women both enjoyed significant success early in their careers, but there were disparities between their levels of recognition and acclaim. Lollobrigida was signed up by the mogul Howard Hughes (who, was, predictably, smitten by her) to a seven-year exclusive contract, but her ventures into English-language cinema were comparatively limited, compared to her standing in Italy. She appeared in such pictures as John Huston's Beat the Devil, and starred opposite a decrepit Errol Flynn in his attempt to revitalise his swashbuckling career, Crossed Swords. More significant roles in films included the circus drama Trapeze and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, she won the greatest amount of acclaim and recognition for Italian-language projects, and received a Bafta nomination for her role in 1953's Bread, Love and Dreams. Further awards followed throughout the decade, and Lollobrigida revelled in her standing as the best-known, most beloved Italian export since spaghetti. Picking a fight with the queen herself This did not sit well with the ambitious Loren, who had been born Sofia Scicolone, and had had an early career as a successful model. When she was 15, she met Carlo Ponti, who was judging a beauty pageant that she appeared in. Although the 37-year-old Ponti was no Adonis, he was sufficiently charismatic and intelligent to realise that the young Scicolone had the potential to go far in the film industry, if he could shape her, Svengali-like. He changed her name to the more pronounceable Sophia Loren, encouraged her to learn English and to shed her strong Neapolitan accent. Still, whatever the truth of her lineage, under Ponti's tutelage she established herself as a comely figure with strong sex appeal. She had made over 25 films by the age of 21, which made her a ubiquitous presence in Italian cinema. Perhaps egged on by Ponti, she now decided to pick a fight with the queen herself, Lollobrigida, and told the European press that she was better endowed – 'bustier' – than the older actress Lollobrigida duly snapped back that she was capable of playing a peasant, but that Loren was not able to convincingly embody an aristocrat. 'We are as different as a fine racehorse and a goat!' she complained to one reporter. The barbs must have stung, because, later in her career, Loren suddenly remembered that her father, an unsuccessful railway engineer, had been descended from nobility, which supposedly gave her the right to call herself 'Viscountess of Pozzuoli, Lady of Caserta'. From personal to professional The feud soon stretched from the personal to the professional, when Loren replaced Lollobrigida in a sequel to her hit 1953 romantic comedy Bread, Love and Dreams (the older actress had asked for more money). 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