14 interesting facts about the film “Hacksaw Ridge” (15 photos)

The 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson, is, in my opinion, one of the best about World War II, and based on real events.





There were attempts to film the story of Desmond Doss long before Hacksaw Ridge.



Desmond Doss is a fairly famous person whose feat has spread throughout the world. Considering this, it is interesting that his story was only filmed in 2016. In fact, many wanted to do this, including film producer Hal Wallis, who, back in the 50s, planned to buy the film rights from Desmond to an important part of his life. Audie Murphy was supposed to star in this film. However, Desmond refused because he did not want his story on screen to turn out to be an ordinary Hollywood action movie.

The film could not be made for more than ten years





It was only in 2001 that Desmond Doss gave his consent to the film adaptation to producer Gregory Crosby. He wrote the script and soon a documentary film appeared, which was supposed to be followed by the start of production of a feature film, but the film rights began to change hands, and Mel Gibson did not want to become a director until 2014. When Gibson finally agreed, production got off to a flying start.

One of the actors filmed with prosthetic legs



“Hacksaw Ridge” is not only a film about strong-willed people, but also a film with truly strong-willed actors. Mel Gibson said that one cameo role, repeated in several scenes, was played by a man who lost his legs during the service. At the same time, on the screen he played not a wounded soldier, but a completely healthy one. So that he could stand on an equal footing with everyone else, he was fitted with prosthetics. However, later in the story his character was seriously injured and was evacuated by Desmond.

The film was made for only 40 million



Despite the fact that the plot develops quite slowly before the main narrative, and all scenes concentrate on dialogues, many viewers primarily remember the huge number of combat and brutal scenes. It may seem surprising that the film cost 40 million. But this is true. The same “Dunkirk” cost Nolan 100 million, later he made “Oppenheimer” for the same amount, and 400 million was spent on “Avengers: Endgame”. When Mel Gibson was asked if 40 million was really enough for him and what he thinks about paintings costing 200 million and above, he replied that he looks at them and scratches his head, because he believes that there is a lot of wasted spending.

Mel Gibson pays attention to Andrew Garfield in The Social Network



Before The Social Network, Andrew Garfield managed to star in several good films, but it was this film that turned his career around and even made Mel Gibson pay attention to the young actor. The director admitted that he first saw Garfield in “The Social Network,” and he realized his exceptionality when he saw in the eyes of the aspiring star whole spectrums of emotions and paragraphs of what he could say in words.

The film is only 52.7 percent accurate



Desmond Doss's refusal to sell film rights was due to the fact that he did not want directors, producers and screenwriters to distort his real story. And these fears were not completely unfounded, because “Hacksaw Ridge” distorted the real picture by almost half. The film, for example, gets Desmond's backstory, his interactions with his brother, and his conflict with his father wrong. A little later it is not mentioned that before the battle on Okinawa he managed to fight in Guam and Leyte. Even the ending, in which Doss is carried away on a stretcher, is misrepresented. In fact, Desmond's arm was broken by a sniper bullet, and immediately after that he crawled 270 meters to a safe place, where he waited for help for 5 hours. Mel Gibson did not show this in his film, thinking that the audience would not believe it.

When creating action scenes, Mel Gibson was inspired by his nightmares



Mel Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, served on Guadalcanal and saw the horrors of real war. Upon returning home, he could not think of anything better than telling these stories to little Mel instead of bedtime stories. Because of them, the future director had nightmares in his dreams, and it was they who became the source of inspiration when creating the battle scenes in Okinawa.

Desmond's son cried while watching the movie



Andrew Garfield not only perfectly conveyed the character of the real Desmond Doss, but also looked very similar to him in appearance. Their similarities are completely undeniable, especially after the little story told by Gibson. He shared that during the premiere screening, Desmond Doss's son burst into tears when he saw Andrew Garfield as his father. The actor was so similar to Doss Sr. that the younger one could not contain his emotions.

Filming took place on a beautiful farm



To film the film, Mel Gibson needed a fairly large area in which Andrew Garfield could run around to his heart's content. As the main location, he chose a dairy farm in Australia, which looks completely different from what is shown in the film. This is what explains such a large amount of smoke throughout the entire story. To prevent the viewer from seeing green meadows somewhere in the background and the bright sun illuminating them, smoke machines drove along the perimeter, which formed a dense wall around the set.

Teresa Palmer auditioned by phone



Usually, the director, in search of main and supporting actors, meets with them personally and selects each one based on his vision. But sometimes chance intervenes. Teresa Palmer couldn't meet Mel Gibson, but she really wanted to play in his film. So she recorded her audition on her phone, sent the recording and waited. Three months later, Mel Gibson called her personally and said that he was giving her the role of Desmond Doss's wife.

The film received a long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival



Film festivals have recently become more famous for the fact that they like to applaud the filmmakers and the films themselves for a very long time. And by the word “very” we mean not just “very”, but “even very, very”. Sometimes films at film festivals receive a standing ovation for several minutes. The record holder for this was “Pan’s Labyrinth,” which was applauded for a full 22 minutes at the Cannes Film Festival. “Mud” with Matthew McConaughey was able to boast 18 minutes. And “Hacksaw Ridge” at the Venice Film Festival was applauded for 9 minutes and 48 seconds - this exact value was found out thanks to Mel Gibson, who began to hold his finger on the stopwatch in advance.

The exact number of people saved by Desmond Doss is unknown.



In a critical situation, Desmond had no time to keep count of the people he saved. The only thing he was worried about was the life of another comrade in arms, which depended only on him. At the same time, Desmond dared to name approximately the number - 50 people. But he was wrong. His colleagues said that the real number was closer to a hundred fighters. Not wanting to overestimate his feat, Doss agreed to settle for 75. In addition, Desmond also provided assistance to several dozen comrades who, thanks to Doss, were subsequently able to descend on their own, so that the actual number of those saved, according to some reports, could reach three hundred people.

Mel Gibson made a cameo appearance



Mel Gibson was originally going to play Sergeant Howell, but he ended up giving the role to Vince Vaughn. However, Mel was not left without acting work. At the end of the film, Desmond is carried on a stretcher by several people, and one of them is the character played by the director.

There are almost no American actors in the film



Despite the fact that Hacksaw Ridge is about American soldiers, there were almost no American actors in it. This is because the film was shot in Australia and the studio relied on Australian subsidies, which could only be obtained if the majority of the cast consisted of actors who were born or raised in Australia. Therefore, of the American actors in the film, only Vin Vhe and Mel Gibson's son, Milo Gibson.