Gibson to receive award

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Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson will receive the Hollywood Director prize at The Hollywood Film Awards next month (Nov16).

The star will be feted for his filmmaking on projects like Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto, and his upcoming war movie Hacksaw Ridge, in which Andrew Garfield portrays real-life soldier Desmond Doss, an army medic who was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving 75 people even though he refused to use a weapon or kill an enemy combatant during World War II.

Mel turned the film down twice, but admits he was intrigued by Desmond's story.

"The last time it was offered, I read it and it went straight from... it went straight through the chest cavity into my brain, so it was like a very emotional, very moving story," he explains. "There's tears on the pages, so I thought, 'This is a story worth telling about this guy who's so incredible'.

"He transcends the ugliness of war in a situation that turns most men into animals... He gets to hone his higher self and do something really beautiful in the midst of that which is life-affirming."

Past recipients of the Hollywood Director award have included David O. Russell, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, and John Schlesinger.

The Hollywood Film Awards will be held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on 6 November.

Meanwhile, Gibson is celebrating the impending arrival of his ninth child with his 26-year-old girlfriend Rosalind Ross early next year.

"Just one more," the 60-year-old tells news show Extra. "I'm just there to catch. I think my adrenals are worn out so I don't even react anymore."