MovieChat Forums > Braveheart (1995) Discussion > Always thought Gibson was Scottish

Always thought Gibson was Scottish


And that's why he played Wallace. But he's Irish. Talk of cultural appropriation.

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To be fair to Mel, he actually didn’t want to be the lead actor. He wanted to just direct. He had a whole set of names in mind for William Wallace’s role (though I’m not sure if they were Scottish) . But the studios wanted Mel as the lead, presumably because he’s an A-lister and a box office draw

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Or he could've just been lying so it doesn't come across as egotistical? We'll never know.

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Mel has Scottish ancestry. That's what attracted him to the part.

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Born in the States, raised in Australia.

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He played Wallace because he couldn’t get the funding to cast Jason Patric.

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