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Mel Gibson used to be one of the few actors back in the early ‘80s and through the ‘90s who gave several hits, such as theMad Maxseries,Lethal Weapon,andBraveheart –which was also his directorial achievement. But even after all that fame, he couldn’t make peace with one of his most notable physical attributes – his “short height.”
Although not many people in the industry know about his short height, his “Napoleon complex,” along with his many controversies hampered his career in acting and made him make the switch to directing.
A rather insecure Mel Gibson, while on the set of the comedy filmMaverickback in ‘94 used to stand on surfaces a bit higher than his co-stars. The film also had 2-time Academy Award-winning actor Jodie Foster. During a scene on a boat, a set extra found out that Gibson desperately wanted to look taller than her. Foster is only 1.6m tall.
Read more:Leonardo DiCaprio Refused to Work With Mel Gibson, Quit From His Viking Movie As He Threatened to Burn His Girlfriend’s House
Mel Gibson And His Love For Boxes
While working as an extra can be tiring, it can also be rewarding in some cases as they get to witness everything from the nearest distance possible. During the shoot ofMaverick,Gibson used to stand on boxes so that he could look considerably taller than Foster.
Mel Gibsonmust have had it in his contract that his height be kept private as people do not know to this day that he is not even as tall as hisBraveheartco-star, Sophie Marceau.
According to the extra onMaverick–
“I was an extra in the movie. We were a small group for the exterior boat scenes and spent an average of 12 hours on the scenes. Mel Gibson is surprisingly short and had to stand on boxes to look taller than Jodie Foster.”
Read more:Mel Gibson Made an Actual Bloodthirsty Jaguar Chase $120M Movie Star to Film a Scene: “You can’t train a jaguar”
The film however went on to accumulate a massive $183 million at the box office and was a smashing hit, given the times.
Is Mel Gibson Really That Adamant About His Height?
Mel Gibson is one overtly proud and loud actor who wouldn’t mind being childishly adamant about the things he believes in. It was seen when he defended his filmHacksaw Ridgewhile trash talking about Zack Snyder’sBatman v Supermanback in 2016. The other thing is his short height.
In a book published by Barry Norman who happens to be a reputed Hollywood critic, he mentioned the 67-year-old actor was clearly under six feet.
During their visit at a private dinner party, Norman and Gibson locked horns about the latter’s height. He even went on to share what exactly happened between the two in his book.
“Mel Gibson insisted he was as tall as I was. I disagreed politely on the grounds that I was just over 6ft and he most certainly wasn’t.”
Suggested:Violent Horse Almost Shattered Mel Gibson’s Pelvis in Iconic $213M Movie, Nearly Ended Oscars Run: “My stunt double ran in and pulled me out of the way”
Gibson got infuriated at this, while another guest suggested both stand back-to-back to clear up any confusion. Norman shared that he felt Gibson lifting himself up on his toes to match his height.
“I just looked down at him and said: ‘OK, if you’re happy, I’m happy’, but God knows what all that was about.”
Mel Gibson is currently appearing as Cormac inThe Continental: From the World of John Wickwhich is airing on Peacock.
Source:The Things
Ojaswi Chaudhary
Articles Published :265
Extremely passionate about a great story since the little guy was 8. He has lived through nothing short of almost 300 of Hollywood’s finest pieces of work, and is now creating some of his own here at FandomWire. He loves to make time for a good book and a good meal.
