“He has a very, very big, compassionate heart.”

Mel Gibson has “performed many miraculous healings within himself” following his DUI arrest in 2006; Andrew Garfield said in a new interview.

Garfield, 41, recalled working with the director on the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge during a chat with People published on Thursday, October 17th. “And thank God,” he said of Gibson’s “healing journey.” “Because he is a great filmmaker and I think he deserves to make films. He deserves to tell stories because he has a very, very big, compassionate heart.”

The Social network The actor spoke about what he learned from working with 68-year-old Gibson Hacksaw Ridge.

“Actually, I learned a lot. I learned that people can heal. I learned that people can change, that people can get help. I learned that everyone deserves respect,” he said. “And that people deserve a second chance, a third chance and a fourth chance. That none of us are infallible.”

Garfield went on to say that Gibson was “the kind of director who came out from behind the monitors, just with his eyes moist.”

“He knew when it was right and he knew when it wasn’t right,” he said Amazing Spider-Man Actors shared. “And I just really trusted him. And he's a soulful storyteller, so he can feel… He acts like he can't help but feel everything. He’s a really empathetic guy.”

Gibson directed “Hacksaw Ridge” a decade after his arrest in July 2006 on suspicion of driving drunk on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. The Braveheart actor pleaded no contest to the charge of driving with a high blood alcohol level and was sentenced to three years of probation, according to People. Two additional charges of driving under the influence and having an open container of alcohol in his car were dismissed.

He was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five times a week for four and a half months, and then to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings three times a week for another seven and a half months. Gibson was fined $1,300 and had his driver's license restricted for 90 days. The Oscar winner was ordered to enroll in an alcohol abuse program for three months.

Gibson came under fire after he made anti-Semitic comments during his arrest, which were documented in the police report. He made the comments in a public statement after his comments made headlines.

“There is no excuse, nor should there be tolerance, for anyone who thinks or utters an anti-Semitic remark,” he said in the August 2006 statement. “I would like to expressly apologize to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful ones Words I said to a police officer the night I was arrested for drunk driving.”

“I am a public person, and when I say something, whether articulate and thoughtful or blurted out in a moment of madness, my words carry weight in public,” he said. “Therefore, I must take personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who were hurt and offended by these words.”

Gibson's drunken driving conviction was overturned in October 2009 after his three-year suspended sentence expired. In October 2016, Gibson publicly announced that he had been sober for 10 years.

“I'm a member of the 12-step program and that's how I achieved sobriety,” he said during an appearance on Australia's Sunday Night Channel 7. “I've had 10 years of sobriety.”