Ben Mingay: ‘I’ve never met anybody like Mel Gibson’
Ben Mingay and Tim Ross hit the carpet at the WHO Sexiest People Party in Sydney on Wednesday night (“We try to go to most things together,” Ross told WHO. “We met a couple of years ago on Wonderland and have been joined at the hip ever since”), where Mingay talked about working with Mel Gibson on the set of his new World War 2 drama Hacksaw Ridge.
“I’ve never met anybody like Mel,” says Mingay. “He’s a master of the craft, and so good at what he does. He’s a creative force field.”
The director is also a well-known prankster, though Mingay tells WHO that he was lucky enough to escape friendly fire during filming last year. “He didn’t have much time to prank people, but he certainly came armed with some good jokes,” Mingay says. “I was probably the butt of one or two of those.”
Mingay has seen Ridge—which opens on Nov. 3—twice and is set to watch it for a third time this weekend. “My first reaction was that it was amazing, but I was watching it technically. The second time, I let my emotions get the best of me. I think it’ll be in the running for osme of the big awards this year since it’s a bit of a masterpiece.”
The voting academy for the AACTAs seems to agree. This morning, Ridge was nominated for a whopping 13 gongs, including citations for direction (Gibosn) and actors Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving and Rachel Griffiths.
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