Braveheart's Mel Gibson makes surprising confession about filming of iconic Scots movie
MEL Gibson has admitted he faked it as a film director when he was making Braveheart.
The Aussie-born superstar, 69, said he had to pretend to the crew and enormous cast that he was totally in control of the £150million blockbuster.
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Mel Gibson celebrated the 30th anniversary of Braveheart in Philadelphia
Credit: Getty
He came clean at a Fan Expo convention in Philadelphia, US, as the Oscar-winning epic celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Gibson, who played legendary Scots freedom fighter Sir William Wallace, recalled: 'It was only my second outing as a director and it was a massive shoot.
'There were about 3,000 people on the set. They're all looking at you like you know what you're doing.
'So I pretended I knew what I was doing.
'But somehow it all came together.
"Logistically speaking, it was a monster — from feeding everybody to getting them all to look like they were in the war.'
Gibson said his 'proudest achievement' was avoiding serious injuries in the movie's many battle scenes.
He explained: 'One guy got a hangnail and another got a broken nose and twisted ankle but that was it.
'It was a long shoot — there were 105 shooting days. We didn't get any days off.'
'But I'm really proud of the end result. It really paid off.'
Braveheart fans go mad for Mel Gibson as he's asked about independence
Elsewhere a former child star from Braveheart has revealed how he used to slag off Mel Gibson's dodgy Scots accent on set - so the Hollywood A-lister begged him to help improve his brogue.
Andrew Weir from Ayr played William Wallace's best pal Hamish in the Oscar-winning flick and even managed to get family friend James Robinson a crucial part as the young freedom fighter.
But the pair would regularly fall into hysterics at the Aussie actor's attempt to master our dialect.
Andrew, who now lives in New York, says: 'I think Mel liked that we were kids and not intimidated by him. We used to laugh at his accent and he would ask us to help him make it better.'
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