Heath gets off to a prickly start

The Patriot was a big learning experience for me. I've no formal acting training, because I'm not one to pick up an instruction manual. I wanted to figure it out myself. My college has been in front of the camera - learning by error and recognising my faults and trying to be smart enough to fix them.

Of course, since this film is set during the Revolutionary Wars, I had to do some historical research. But I could have read all the books about the Revolutionary Wars and they wouldn't have given me anything on Gabriel. For me, wanting a part comes with reading the script. Either you understand it straight away or you don't. I understood Gabriel and related to him - how he took that step from being a young boy to going out into the world and discovering himself as a young man.

I've heard stories that I was picked out of 400 people to play Gabriel - but I don't know that I believe that. I did screw up my screen test for The Patriot, though. I was in a really funny head space. I spent over a year doing nothing and coming close to a lot of great roles and at the last minute having the rug pulled from under me. And when I walked into the room I just wasn't ready to read properly and I just stopped. I was just like, "F*** it." I wanted to go home. But then they asked to see me again and I guess the next time I was better.

I had to learn a few things for the film but not how to ride - I've done that a lot in Los Angeles. But I had to learn to fire a musket. Mel Gibson was pretty good at it. I think we got it down to about 20 seconds a shot. Did he play practical jokes on me on the set? No, he behaved.