Getting to know Mel Gibson - DIRECT LINE by Boy Abunda

He’s been mad. He’s been lethal. He was patriotic when he asked for his payback. And now, still living dangerously, he learns to get mushy in What Women Want. He is Mel Gibson, one of today’s hottest actors.

Although he is recognized worldwide, Gibson remains to be one of the most enigmatic celebrities in tinseltown. But all that will change with this list of fun-facts and trivia about Gibson compiled from various research materials.

1. Mel Gibson was born in upstate New York and moved with his family to Australia when he was 12 years old.

2. Mel studied in the National Institute of Dramatic Arts at the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

3. His "discoverer" is director George Miller, who cast him in Mad Max, the film that first brought him worldwide recognition.

4. His second movie is Tim where he starred as a handicapped young man. For this, Gibson bagged the Australian Film Institute Best Actor Award.

5. Mel is now 44. Not long ago, during a late night of channel surfing, he came across one of his first films, 1983’s The Year of Living Dangerously (which had some scenes shot in the Philippines and had our very own Kuh Ledesma and Bembol Roco as part of the cast) and after watching a couple of minutes, he exclaimed, "Hell, did I get old!"

6. He has been married to his wife, Robyn Gibson, since 1980 and fathered seven children. His youngest is Thomas who was just born last year.

7. Mel is a devout catholic. He has strict views on divorce and abortion.

8. Gibson marked his directorial debut with the hit movie The Man Without a Face. He also starred in it.

9. He has created, along with Bruce Davey his own production company called Icon Productions. Icon Productions has developed and produced the Academy Award winning Braveheart along with many other movies such as Forever Young, Hamlet, Fairy Tale: A True Story and Payback.

10. A gallery of Mel’s movie posters hangs in his Icon Productions office. On each poster, Mel has "added" a mustache with a heavy black marker to himself and to his co-stars – a graphic display of his sense of humor!

11. Gibson was directed by Franco Zeffirelli in the movie Hamlet where he took on the lead role based on the Shakespearean play. Noted film critic Joel Siegel of Good Morning America declares that Mel’s version in the best of the film versions, "better than (Sir Laurence) Olivier’s, much better than Branagh’s in part because it’s a better film but in part because of Mel Gibson. He really is good and funny."

12. He was been planning to direct Hamlet onstage with Robert Downey, Jr. which was supposed to have its stage debut in Los Angeles but had to stop because Downey was arrested on drug-related charges.

13. He is, Hollywood highest paid-actor of all-time. Mel was paid a whopping $25 million for him to star in last summer’s Revolutionary war epic "The Patriot."

14. Mel hasn’t done a romantic comedy role before What Women Want. This is his first venture into the genre and he finds it "challenging." He adds that "I think it’s much more difficult to do romantic comedy. You can’t be false of too over the top because it’s obviously not funny. As my director in this film often quotes, ‘Dying is easy, comedy is hard.’ And if you’re not funny, believe me, you die up there."

What Women Want is set to open in Metro theaters on Jan. 31. Gibson tackles the role of Nick Marshall, a Frank Sinatra-grooving Chicago ad man who considers himself as God’s gift of women. But a freak accident involving a hair blower and a wet bathtub leaves him with the shocking realization that he can read the minds of every woman around him (even female poodles!), and he’s intent on using the ability to its greatest professional and personal advantages.

Mel’s co-stars in What Women Want include Academy Award winning actresses Helen Hunt and Marissa Tomei, Mark Feuerstein, Lauren Holly and Alan Alda. The film is directed by Nancy Meyers (award-winning writer of Private Benjamin, Baby Boom and Father of the Bride I and II who marked her directorial debut with the hit remake The Parent Trap) and written by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yanga.

What Women Want, distributed by Pioneer Films, will also be exclusively premiered by leading pop radio station Magic 89.9 DWTM on Jan. 26 at the Cinema of Glorietta 4 (for celebrities and ad agencies) and on Jan. 27 in SM Megamall Cinema 9 and 10 (for their listeners). For more information, tune in to DWTM Magic 89.9.