After appearing in the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series, Mel Gibson went on to direct and star in the Academy Award-winning Braveheart. In 2004, Mel Gibson directed and produced The Passion of the Christ, a controversial, yet successful, film portraying the last hours in the life of Jesus Christ. Outside his career, drunken remarks by Mel Gibson have generated accusations of homophobia and anti-semitism -- Mel Gibson has previously attributed the statements to his battle with alcoholism.