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 two films were shot back-to-back. Several musical adaptations based on material previously filmed in non-musical form have won Best Picture, including "Gigi", "West Side Story", "My Fair Lady", "The Sound of Music", "Oliver!", and "Chicago". "The Artist" (with the exception of a single scene of dialogue, and dream sequence with sound effects) was the first silent film since "Wings" to win Best Picture. It was the first silent nominee since 1928's "The Patriot". It was the first Best Picture winner to be shot entirely in black-and-white since 1960's "The Apartment." ("Schindler's List", the 1993 winner, was predominantly black-and-white but it