Perhaps Mel Gibson is feeling his age, but the actor who made his name as an action man has confessed to finding the preparation for his latest film a little gruelling.
We Were Soldiers is the story of the first major battle between US and Viet Cong forces in the Vietnam war. Gibson plays Lieutenant General Harold Moore, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, who was outnumbered when his 450 troops were surrounded by 3,000 enemy soldiers in enemy territory.
Screenwriter and director, Randall Wallace, asked the cast to go through "boot camp"-type training to prepare for physically demanding roles.
"It was like a celebrity sort of wimp camp," Gibson said. "What real Rangers go through is pretty heavy. They put them through sheer misery."
While training at Fort Benning, Georgia, Gibson admitted there were days when he was "dragging". "I'm not a spring chicken any more. The hardest part was trying to keep up with 24-year-olds."
