Mel Gibson he founded Icon Entertainment, a production company, which independent film director Atom Egoyan has called "an alternative to the studio system". Director Peter Weir cast him as one of the leads in the critically acclaimed World War I drama "Gallipoli" (1981), which earned Gibson a Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute, as well as a reputation as a serious, versatile actor. Gibson produced, directed, and starred in the epic historical drama film "Braveheart" (1995), for which he won the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Director, along with the Academy Award for Best Picture. He later
Academy Award for Best Picture but ineligible for Best Foreign Language Film, as it was an American production); and "Amour" (French, 2012). Only nine films wholly financed outside the United States have won Best Picture, eight of which were financed, in part or in whole, by the United Kingdom. Those films being: "Hamlet" (1948), "Tom Jones" (1963), "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), "Chariots of Fire" (1981), "Gandhi" (1982), "The Last Emperor" (1987), "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008), and "The King's Speech" (2010). The ninth film, "The Artist", (2011) was financed by France. Other points of contention include genres (or styles in case of animation) of film