Mel Gibson buys Fijian island

Actor and director Mel Gibson has purchased a Pacific island hideaway in northern Fiji, but the sale faces a legal challenge from villagers who claim their ancestors were forced off the island, an official and news reports said Wednesday.

The director of “The Passion of the Christ” and star of the “Mad Max” films purchased the 5,411-acre Mago Island from Japan’s Tokyu Corp. for about $15 million.

Any legal challenge to the sale is likely to be difficult now that Gibson is the legal owner, but a landless tribe of indigenous Fijians say that their ancestors were forced from the island in the 19th century and that they want it back. The 500 tribespeople are raising funds to challenge the sale in court, the Fiji Times reported.