9 things you (probably) didn't know about Braveheart

Braveheart was actually a nickname for Robert the Bruce, not William Wallace. After Bruce died, his heart was carried into battle, hence the moniker.

The majority of extras in the film's battle scenes were members of Ireland's Reserve Defence Forces, or Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (now the Cúltaca an Airm).

Various scenes needed to be reshot, as extras were filmed wearing sunglasses and watches.

A number of horses in the film are fake. Each mechanical 'horse' weighed 200lbs and moved by way of nitrogen cylinders propelling them along tracks at 30mph.

James Cosmo (Campbell) and Brendan Gleeson (Hamish) portray a father and son in the film - but there are just seven years between the pair in reality.

The sacking of York was a pure invention for the film. Wallace never made it as far as York during his invasion of the north of England.

The bridge in the Battle of Stirling Bridge scenes is missing - Mel Gibson told a local that the bridge 'got in the way' of filming.

Some of the extras in the film are members of the Wallace clan. Gibson stayed with them to learn more about the clan's history.

Despite Wallace wearing the iconic woad, or blue body paint, the practice of painting oneself for battle actually ended around 800 years before the events of the film took place.