CS: Would it be fair to say you'd never been able to get "Braveheart" made had it not been for this success?
Gibson: It would have been more difficult, yes. I had already directed one small film, "The Man Without a Face." And that was a toe in the water which is really what you have to do. You don't want to go out there on your first run and crash and burn on a big budget. You want to do something small. In many respects it was like a TV movie, except I put all my angst in it. And you don't find out till you're in the firing line and you have to make decisions,