Mel Gibson

Signs of things to come

Gibson now heads up the cast of his latest film Signs, from writer/director M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable). The psychological thriller has Gibson playing Graham Hess, a former priest who turned his back on God after his wife's death. He wakes up one day to find a giant crop circle in his cornfield. Similar patterns turn up around the globe virtually overnight and send the world into a frenzy, convinced that they are the sign of an imminent alien invasion. While the film is part science fiction thriller, the real heart of the story surrounds Hess finally coming to terms with his anger at God.

Following Signs, there is his next film The Singing Detective, just finished production and expected for release in 2003.

There's no doubt Gibson is hardworking but he somehow manages to tie it in with his well-known devotion to his family. Married to Robyn Moore since 1980 (they reportedly met through a dating service), together the couple has seven children - sons Edward and Christian, who are twins, William, Louis, Milo and Tommy, and daughter Hannah.

Gibson is rare in Hollywood in that he has successfully shed the image in which he was cast early on - as a sex symbol with meager acting talents. As the hugely popular actor ages, the iconic Mad Max and Lethal Weapon franchises of his career may begin to fade against his more ambitious dramatic roles in films such as We Were Soldiers, The Patriot, Hamlet and Braveheart - not to mention more roles behind the camera (he won an Oscar for Best Director for the latter.)

As Mel once said: 'I like directing much better. It's more fun, that's all there is to it. It's essentially the same job, which is storytelling, but you have more control over the way you want to tell the story. It's a high. I love it.'

No doubt he will enjoy the same enduring success behind the camera as he has in front of it.