Starring Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, and Brendan Gleeson.
The multiple Academy Award winning film follows part of the story of the First War of Scottish Independence and is shown through scenes filmed in Wicklow’s Sally Gap!
William Wallace is a Scottish rebel who leads an uprising against the cruel English ruler Edward the Longshanks, who wishes to inherit the crown of Scotland for himself. Once he loses another of his loved ones, William Wallace begins his long quest to make Scotland free once and for all, along with the assistance of Robert the Bruce. Mel Gibson was attracted to shoot a large part of Braveheart in Ireland by the promise of the Irish government that he would get the use of the reserve army for the extensive battle scenes, for which he needed fit and well trained fighters. So many horses were needed for the battle scenes, that all horse owners in the Wicklow/Kildare area were invited to take part with their horses as extras. Director/producer Mel Gibson was investigated by the RSPCA, who were convinced that the fake horses used were real. Only when one of his assistants provided some videotaped footage of the location shooting were they convinced otherwise. One of the main locations used in Ireland was Kippure Holiday Village in the middle of the Wicklow Mountains, on the Sally Gap road from Roundwood to Blessington. To visit these locations in real life there is the Braveheart Drive that begins in Hollywood and ends in Glendalough passing through Blessington and Laragh. For more information on this drive click here. Watch the trailer for this blockbuster here
