Mel Gibson eyeing Viking epic

(AFP PHOTO/Jewel SAMAD)

After tackling the Bible, ancient Mayans and medieval Scotland, Oscar-winner Mel Gibson says he is looking forward to another historical epic about the reign of Vikings.

The 54-year-old actor-director, who returns to cinemas this month for his first major role in eight years with the action-thriller "Edge of Darkness," said making a movie about the Norse warriors had been a childhood dream.

"The very first idea that I ever had about making a film, my first thought ever about being a filmmaker was when I was 16-years-old, and I wanted to make a Viking movie," Gibson told journalists at a press event.

Gibson, who shot the 2004 "The Passion of the Christ" in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew before using Mayan dialect for 2006's "Apocalypto", said his untitled Viking project would probably be made in English and Old Norse.

"I think it's going to be in English, an English that would've been spoken back then and Old Norse," Gibson said. "I'm going to give it to you real, man. "I want a Viking to scare you. I don't want a Viking to say, in a heavy Brooklyn accent, 'I'm going to die with this sword in my hand.' I don't want to hear that. It just pulls the rug out from under you.

"I want to see somebody who I've never seen before speaking low, guttural German who scares the living shit out of you, coming up to my house. What is that like? What would that have been like?"

Gibson's 1995 epic "Braveheart" about William Wallace's rebellion against English rule, won five Oscars including best picture and best director.

According to reports, Gibson's Viking film will star Leonardo DiCaprio and is being put together by Oscar-winning producer Graham King.