Director Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto) will be attending the Australian Premiere of HACKSAW RIDGE in Sydney on Sunday, October 16 at the State Theatre. It’s ahead of the release to the general public on 3 November 2016 from Icon Films Australia.
Shot in various locations across New South Wales in 2015, the Australian film stars Andrew Garfield and Vince Vaughn along with Australians Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Sam Worthington and Rachel Griffiths. Rounding out the supporting cast is an impressive mix of Australian and international talent, including Ryan Corr, Richard Roxburgh, Luke Pegler, Ben Mingay, Firass Dirani, Nico Cortez, Harry Greenwood, Milo Gibson and Nathaniel Buzolic.
HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic he single-handedly rescued the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was injured by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest military honour in the US, awarded for personal acts of valour above and beyond the call of duty.
Largely being hailed as the return of Mel Gibson, at least as a director, the recently controversial star joins Australian TV writer Andrew Knight, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Robert Schenkkan, and re-teams with Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace for this biopic. Gibson’s first directorial effort since 2006’s Apocalypto, we listed it as one of our most anticipated films for the rest of 2016.
