At a party one night in 1979, Mel Gibson got drunk and became involved in a brawl with three other men. Nonethless, Gibson showed up for an audition the next day -- with stitches in his head, a broken nose, and a disconnected jaw.

Ironically, George Miller was delighted with Gibson's appearance and promptly awarded him the title role in the film he was casting: the classic road-warrior flick Mad Max.

[Gibson's compensation for his part in the film? $5,000.]

[Among Gibson's phobias? "Everything -- from being afraid I'm going to run out of cream for my cornflakes right up to someone chopping my privates off."]