Awards season in Hollywood rolled on last week as casts and filmmakers of awards contenders appeared at screenings for voting members of the Motion Picture Academy, the Producers Guild, SAG-AFTRA and other film industry guilds.  One high-profile contender for Best Picture and Director is Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson.  The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month and opens on November 4^th in the U.S.  It is widely considered to be Gibson’s “comeback” after a 10-year absence from his last directorial project, 2006’s Apocalypto, and his fall from grace in Hollywood for legal issues and controversial statements he made.  The Producers Guild of America hosted a sold-out screening ofHacksaw Ridge for its members last Sunday, followed by a Q&A moderated by veteran producer Paula Wagner with film producers Bill Mechanic, Dave Permut and Gibson, a 2-time Oscar winner forBraveheart.

 

The film follows the true-life story of Desmond T. Doss, the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Freedom for his bravery during the infamous World War II 1945 battle in Okinawa, Japan.   For Doss (portrayed by Andrew Garfield), his enlistment as an army medic to help fight the enemy was contingent upon his right to not carry a rifle based on his Seventh-Day Adventist beliefs.  However, his unit leaders did not see it that way and tried to force Doss to quit.  Doss faced beatings, imprisonments and court martial as he resolutely held on to his convictions.  In flashbacks, other reasons for not bearing arms come to light, including a childhood accident and his WW I veteran father.

 

As the producers reflected on the film’s history, they emphasized the project’s life in development hell, lingering there for almost 14 years with delays regularly preventing progress.  Doss did not see his life story as a narrative motion picture (but became a documentary in his lifetime before he passed away in 2006).  Nonetheless, Mechanic stayed the course, reaching out to Gibson, his first choice, who passed on the project. Another director was briefly attached but wanted to make the film PG-13.  Mechanic refused, but agreed to slash the budget to get financing. Gibson had a change of heart and convinced himself he could make a compelling film (ultimately R-rated for graphic violence) seeing how war is a “perfect test for a man’s soul.”  He and the producers added that they saw Doss’s story as “more of a love story (for God, his country and brothers) than war story.”

 

With a budget for $40 million, the team still faced many challenges. When Australian tax incentives were taken off the table, they had to get the film to qualify as Australian to receive government subsidies. Luckily, despite being American-born, Gibson’s early years in Australia helped the film qualify along with other Aussie-born cast members such as Rachel Griffiths (Doss’s mother), Teresa Palmer (Doss’s girlfriend/wife) and Luke Bracey, one of Doss’s most antagonistic unit members.  Rounding out the cast are unit leaders Vince Vaughn and Sam Worthington, and Hugo Weaving as Doss’s father.  The limited budget for a movie depicting the second most ferocious WW2 with graphic war scenes made filming conditions hard, but the team was top notch, “even the rat wranglers…” in the battlefield according to Gibson.  To fill the battleground with soldiers, there were never more than 100 extras for Doss’s unit and significantly less for Japanese soldiers.  Practical effects were heavily used instead of special effects, replacing computer generated explosions and smoke with “practical” or “real” effects created on set, helping to elevate the film’s level authenticity and actors’ performances and save money.  Gibson’s schedule was a tight 40 days of principle photography and he lamented about only having 3 hours to shoot Doss’s daredevil rescue of many wounded brethren.

 

Gibson gave his cast high praise, especially his star Garfield, adding “because of his intelligence and wit, Andrew saw it right away and signed on. He’s one of the greatest actor of this generation.”  He prepared for three months and it showed.  Gibson gave him very little as a director, stating that all he had to do what “stand back and let it happen.”  Gibson also talked about a true war hero, Damien Thomlinson who plays Ralph Morgan in the film.  Thomlinson is an Afghanistan veteran who lost part of his legs there.  During his sequence, Thomlinson used his prosthetics, however, after Morgan is shot in battle, they were removed, adding to the authenticity of the scene and war’s harrowing impact on its soldiers. After the gripping scene, Gibson choked back emotion as he made a speech to the cast and crew about this true war hero.