Eight years after directing his last feature, 2006's Apocalypto, Mel Gibson is negotiating to direct Hacksaw Ridge, which has Andrew Garfield in talks to star.

The plot is based on the true story of Desmond T. Doss, the first conscientious objector in U.S. history to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Doss served as a U.S. Army medic during the Battle of Okinowa who refused to kill enemy soldiers. President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945 for saving so many lives during the war. The title refers to the location of a brutal two-week stretch of the Battle of Okinawa, where American troops fought Japanese soldiers on a series of rocky cliffs.

Deadline reports that Mel Gibson's deal is not closed yet, and that negotiations are "moving forward delicately and slowly." Robert Schenkkan wrote the script with Randall Wallace, who wrote the script for Mel Gibson's Best Picture winner Braveheart.

Andrew Garfield is coming off the superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and he will next be seen in Silence and 99 Homes.