Mel Gibson "Hamlet". Gibson was cast alongside experienced Shakespearean actors Ian Holm, Alan Bates, and Paul Scofield. He compared working with Scofield to being "thrown into the ring with Mike Tyson". Scofield said of Gibson "Not the sort of actor you'd think would make an ideal Hamlet, but he had enormous integrity and intelligence." In 1995, Mel Gibson directed, produced, and starred in "Braveheart", a biographical film of Sir William Wallace, a Scottish nationalist who was executed in 1305 for "high treason" against King Edward I of England. Gibson received two Academy Awards, Best Director and Best Picture, for his second directorial
Academy Award for Best Picture for Best Picture and Best Director have been closely linked throughout their history. Of the 90 films that have won Best Picture, 63 have also been awarded Best Director. Only four films have been awarded Best Picture without receiving a Best Director nomination: "Wings" (1927/28), "Grand Hotel" (1931/32), "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), and "Argo" (2012). The only two Best Director winners to win for films that did not receive a Best Picture nomination were during the early years of the awards: Lewis Milestone for "Two Arabian Knights" (1927/28), and Frank Lloyd for "The Divine Lady" (1928/29). On June 24, 2009,