The Mad Max and Lethal Weapon actor plans to move his wife Robyn and seven children 300 miles away from their home in California to a $26 million ranch in a rural area of Costa Rica known as "bandit territory." A State Department briefing warns that all visitors to the area are "potential targets for criminals and kidnappers" and should never travel alone.

Gibson has cut a controversial figure over the past three years so perhaps it’s not surprising that he’s seeking a less public, reclusive life. In 2004, his film The Passion of The Christ led to accusations of anti-Semitism being leveled at the star. Two years later, these accusations resurfaced after Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks to a police officer arresting him for suspicion of drink driving. Following the arrest, Gibson issued an apology and went to rehab to deal with his alcoholism.

How to disappear completely

Mel Gibson isn’t the only leading man to trade Hollywood hype for a quieter life. Lost In Translation star Bill Murray resides in upstate New York and reportedly only fields script offers via a voicemail service that he checks infrequently. Movie legend Marlon Brando was famously reclusive and withdrew completely from public life following the suicide of his daughter. Film maker Stanley Kubrick remained secretive about his life and work throughout his career.

And it’s not just movie stars that grow tired of tabloid attention. George Harrison’s method of coping with Beatlemania was to shut himself away for many years until his death in 2001. After releasing one acclaimed album in 1990, Lee Mavers of The La’s disappeared for the best part of 15 years leading a Guardian journalist to describe him as “the JD Salinger of pop music”. Unable to cope with stardom, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitar hero John Frusciante quit the band in 1992 and withdrew from society for five years and descended into drug addiction. Remarkably, Frusciante resolved his problems alone, returned to the band in 1997 and continues to find success ten years on.