The Patriot - motion picture - Brief Article

Interview, July, 2000 by Thelma Adams

Directed by Roland Emmerich

It's a sad day when Mel Gibson needs to team up with a younger man to boost box office. That day has come with Roland (ID4) Emmerich's ultra-patriotic Braveheart-verus-the-Red-Coats. It's 1763, and Gibson, a French-and-Indian-War vet turned peaceful colonist--and single father of seven--grabs a musket, hops a mare, and joins the militia alongside his heir, played by hottie Heath Ledger. Again it's personal--and then there's that "taxation without representation" thing.