Russo joins Gibson for IFTA awards

Hollywood actress Rene Russo will join her superstar colleague Mel Gibson next weekend at the Irish Film and Television Awards, it was announced today.

She is attending to celebrate with the Australian actor and co-star of 'Lethal Weapon 3' (and 4), who will receive the inaugural Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema Award.

Russo, 53, starred alongside Gibson in the popular action franchise as Lorna Cole, a martial arts-practising internal affairs detective and in the taut 1996 thriller 'Ransom', where she played his on-screen wife Kate Mullen.

Her other big hits include 'In the Line of Fire' with Clint Eastwood where she portrayed a tough US Secret Service agent, 'Outbreak', 'Get Shorty' and 'Tin Cup' alongside Kevin Costner.

Russo has also appeared in 'The Thomas Crown Affair' opposite Irish actor Pierce Brosnan – the hit remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen classic – and 'Two for the Money' with Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey.

Gibson, 51, has starred in over 48 film and television productions, including 'Braveheart', which he shot in Ireland in 1994.

The movie was the first major international film to use Ireland as a location under new tax incentives and went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Gibson has Irish connections on both his mother’s and father’s side.

His late mother, Anne Patricia Reilly, was born in Co Longford and his great grandfather on his father’s side was Patrick Mylott, who emigrated from Ireland to Australia during the Famine.

The actor first came to Ireland when he was 12, when his parents visited to trace the family’s Irish roots.

The 5th annual Iftas will be held at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre next Sunday, February 17.