This fall's Hacksaw Ridge is the first film directed by Mel Gibson since the Oscar-winning Braveheart actor/filmmaker's 2006 release, Apocalypto. Hacksaw Ridge, like Braveheart and Apocalypto, is a historical drama; in this case, one that stars Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2) as real-life conscientious objector, Desmond Doss. Meanwhile, working with Gibson behind the scenes are two screenwriters with a good deal of experience writing for the historical genre: Andrew Knight (The Water Diviner) and Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Schenkkan (All the Way).
Hacksaw Ridge certainly reads as a potential awards season-contender, based on its intriguing subject matter (with its WWII backdrop being one that has often encouraged awards consideration) and the credentials of the people working on both sides of the camera. The film also, quite literally, looks pretty good too, as is further illustrated by the following Hacksaw Ridge images that we can exclusively debut for you today.
First though, here is the official synopsis for Gibson's upcoming film:
HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss [Andrew Garfield] who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
You can check out the new images from Hacksaw Ridge, below.
The cinematography on Hacksaw Ridge was handled by Simon Duggan: the director of photography on such recent (and visually-stylish) big-budget films as Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby film adaptation, as well as the comic book-based "mid-quel" 300: Rise of an Empire and the video game movie adaptation Warcraft. Based on Duggan's previous work and the above images, there's certainly potential for his work on Hacksaw Ridge to bring something new to the table aesthetically, compared to the most noteworthy WWII films released by Hollywood over the past 10-20 years in particular (Saving Private Ryan, Fury, and so forth).
Garfield, outside of the Amazing Spider-Man movies, has an acting background rooted in indie and/or more prestigious fare (The Social Network, Never Let Me Go, 99 Homes, and so on) and should be in his element in Hacksaw Ridge for that reason. The actor will only be supported in that respect by a capable supporting cast that includes Teresa Palmer (Lights Out), Hugo Weaving (The Hobbit trilogy), Sam Worthington (Avatar) - and Vince Vaughn in the type of serious role that he doesn't play too often, but generally thrives in when he does (with his performance on True Detective being a true highlight of its otherwise disappointing second season).
NEXT: Hacksaw Ridge Trailer
Hacksaw Ridge opens in U.S. theaters on November 4th, 2016.
Source: Lionsgate