Hacksaw Ridge Information

Hacksaw Ridge is a Australian-American biographical war film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight, Robert Schenkkan, Randall Wallace, and Gregory Crosby. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Corr, Teresa Palmer, Richard Pyros and Rachel Griffiths. Principal photography began on September 5, 2015 in New South Wales.

It had its world premiere on September 4, 2016 at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation. The film is scheduled to be released in Australia on November 3, 2016, by Icon Film Distribution, and in the United States on November 4, 2016, by Summit Entertainment.

Plot

The film is based on the true story about US Army medic Desmond T. Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist conscientious objector who refused to bear arms, yet was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his comrades while under constant enemy fire during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II.

Cast

• Andrew Garfield as Desmond T. Doss
• Vince Vaughn as Sergeant Howell
• Sam Worthington as Captain Glover
• Luke Bracey as Smitty
• Hugo Weaving as Tom Doss
• Ryan Corr as Lt. Manville
• Teresa Palmer as Dorothy Schutte
• Rachel Griffiths as Bertha Doss
• Richard Roxburgh as Colonel Stelzer
• Luke Pegler as Milt 'Hollywood' Zane
• Richard Pyros as Randall 'Teach' Fuller
• Ben Mingay as Grease Nolan
• Firass Dirani as Vito Rinnelli
• Harry Greenwood as Henry Brown
• Damien Thomlinson as Ralph Morgan
• Robert Morgan as Colonel Sangston
• Nathaniel Buzolic
• Ori Pfeffer as Irv Schecter
• Milo Gibson as Lucky Ford
• John Batziolas as Private Schulenburg
• John Cannon as Corporal Cannon

Production

On November 20, 2014, it was announced that Mel Gibson was in talks to direct the true story-based war film Hacksaw Ridge, with Andrew Garfield also in talks to play Desmond Doss, a US Army medic awarded Medal of Honor by the President Harry S. Truman for saving lives during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. Gregory Crosby originally wrote the story, then Robert Schenkkan and Randall Wallace wrote the script while Wallace was previously attached to direct the film. Walden Media developed the project along with producers Bill Mechanic of Pandemonium Films and David Permut of Permut Presentations, while co-producers of the film are Gregory Crosby, Steve Longi, and Elexa Ruth. The project was originally brought to Hollywood by screenwriter/producer Gregory Crosby through the efforts of Stan Jensen of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

On February 9, 2015, IM Global closed a deal to finance the film and also sold the film into the international markets. On the same day, Lionsgate acquired the North American distribution rights to the film. Chinese distribution rights were acquired by Bliss Media, a Shanghai-based film production and distribution company. On July 29, 2015, Vince Vaughn and Sam Worthington were added to the cast, in which Vaughn would play Sgt. Howell, a non-commissioned officer from Alabama appointed to make sure the soldiers are ready for combat. Gibson would be directing a film after 2006's Apocalypto. Andrew Knight polished the original script. Gibson's partner Bruce Davey would also produce the film along with Paul Currie. On August 25, 2015, Luke Bracey signed on to play Smitty, a soldier in Doss' platoon. More cast was announced on September 29, 2015, which included Teresa Palmer, Rachel Griffiths, Richard Roxburgh, Luke Pegler, Richard Pyros, Ben Mingay, Firass Dirani, Nico Cortez, Michael Sheasby, Goran Kleut, Jacob Warner, Harry Greenwood, Damien Thomlinson, Ben O"?Toole, Benedict Hardie, Robert Morgan, Ori Pfeffer, Milo Gibson, and Nathaniel Buzolic. On October 19, 2015, Hugo Weaving joined the film to play Tom Doss, father of Desmond T. Doss, while Ryan Corr also signed on to play the role of Lt. Manville. Cross Creek Pictures was on board to finance the film. On October 21, 2015, Cross Creek partnered with Demarest Media, Windy Hill Pictures and Kilburn Media to produce and finance the film.

Filming

Principal photography on the film began on September 5, 2015 in New South Wales. . The film location for the army training camp was completed at the former Australian naval lands Newington Amory near the Parramatta River.

The film production is based in Fox Studios Australia. New South Wales deputy premier Troy Grant predicted the film to bring AUS$26 million of production-related work to the area. On September 21, 2015, filming began in Sydney.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 73rd Venice Film Festival on September 4, 2016. The film will be released in Australia on November 3, 2016. It will be released in the United States on November 4, 2016.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 92%, based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average out of 100 to reviews, the film has a score of 69 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".