Editing The Patriot (2000 film) (section)

===Script===
Screenwriter [[Robert Rodat]] wrote seventeen drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one. In an early version, Anne is pregnant with Gabriel's child when she dies in the burning church. Rodat wrote the script with Mel Gibson in mind for Benjamin Martin and gave the character six children to signal that preference to studio executives. After the birth of Gibson's seventh child, the script was changed so that Martin has seven children. Like the character [[William Wallace]], which Gibson had portrayed in ''[[Braveheart (film)|Braveheart]]'' five years earlier, Martin is a man who seeks to live his life in peace until revenge drives him to lead a cause against a national enemy after the life of an innocent family member is taken.