How the film "Braveheart" was filmed: footage from filming and interesting facts about the film (15 photos)

The film "Braveheart" starring Mel Gibson became a real hit among audiences. And although it contains many historical inaccuracies, the film really turned out great. And today I would like to tell you 17 interesting facts about the film, as well as show some interesting footage from the filming of the film.





1. Mel Gibson not only played the main role in the film, but also took on the role of director and producer.



2. Mel Gibson did not want to play William Wallace, because he considered himself too old for this role, because at the time of filming the actor was already 38 years old, while William should have been 20. But the Paramount studio refused to give money for filming if Gibson himself will not play the lead role. So he had to agree.





By the way, Gibson initially came with this proposal to the bosses of the Warner Bros. studio, but they set him the conditions that they would allocate money if the actor signed a contract to star in the film Lethal Weapon 4. Gibson refused this. But despite this, he still starred in the fourth part of Lethal Weapon, released in 1988.



3. Despite the fact that in the film, Wallace's wife was killed without giving birth to children, the real William Wallace and his wife had children. Moreover, several descendants of William Wallace starred in this film as extras and cameos.

4. After the release of the film, many Scots began to be indignant at the way Robert the Bruce was portrayed in the film, since among the Scots he is as much a national hero as William Wallace himself. And by the way, in reality it was Robert the Bruce who received the nickname “Braveheart”, and not William Wallace.



5. In the story (and in reality), Hammish was Scottish, and Stephen was Irish. But in the film, the Scotsman Hammish was played by the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, while the Irishman Stephen was played by the Scottish actor David O'Hara.



Brendan Gleeson, Mel Gibson and David O'Hara

6. Although the film takes place in Scotland, the vast majority of scenes were shot in Ireland. This was explained by the fact that the locations and architecture in these countries are similar, but taxes in Ireland are much lower.



7. Mel Gibson turned down the role of Two-Face in the film Batman Forever, as well as the role of James Bond himself in the film 007: GoldenEye, which were filmed at the same time. Instead, he focused on his painting Braveheart.



8. The difference between the actors who played Hammish and his father Campbell is only 7 years.



9. The first version of the film turned out to be much more cruel and bloody, because of which the film could have received an adult rating of N-17, which of course would have affected the box office. Therefore, many particularly cruel scenes had to be cut out.



10. After the release of the film, Mel Gibson was attacked by animal rights activists and LGBT rights activists. The first were sure that the horses were injured during filming, but they managed to prove that fake horses were used in the hard scenes.

The second one is much more interesting. LGBT advocates accused Gibson of homophobia, since in his story the king threw his son's lover out of the window. To this Gibson replied that the essence of this episode was not to throw a gay man out of a window, but to show the inadequacy of the king.

To all this was added the accusation of Anglophobia. The English were unhappy that their ancestors were portrayed as exceptionally cruel people.

11. William Wallace’s real-life wife’s name was Marian, but the creators deliberately changed this name to Maron because they didn’t want viewers to think that we were talking about Maid Marian from Robin Hood, because the film was released a few years before Braveheart "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" starring Kevin Costner.



12. Many scenes had to be re-shot, as some of the extras were seen wearing watches, glasses and other modern attributes. However, the film still included many things from the modern world, for example, a car, a man in a cap and jacket, and much more.

13. According to the script, during William's heartfelt scene, the horse was supposed to stand still. But after Gibson shouted, the horse began to move. This scene was not re-shot, as it turned out to be much more interesting than originally intended.



14. In an interview, Mel Gibson admitted that filming Braveheart was so tiring that it took a toll on his body. He also added that it would be much easier to star in three parts of “Lethal Weapon” in a row.



On the other hand, he was pleased that the filming took place not only outside of Hollywood, but also outside the United States, so that studio bosses could not interfere with the filming process.



15. There are a lot of historical inaccuracies in the film "Braveheart". By the way, I wrote about these inaccuracies in my last article. Mel Gibson himself replied that many historical events were deliberately distorted for greater drama, and in general, he was making an entertaining movie, not a historically accurate film.

16. With a budget of $72 million, the film brought in $213.2 million.

17. The film "Braveheart" received 5 Oscars: "Best Picture", "Best Director", "Best Cinematography", "Best Sound Editing" and "Best Make-up". In addition, the film was nominated for 5 more categories.