"I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call,” said Gibson in a statement.

Gibson, the legendary Hollywood actor, said he was "just as surprised" that Trump named him one of three stars to serve as "ambassador" to Hollywood.

The US president-elect made the actors his "special envoys" to Hollywood, which he said had lost business to foreign countries and needed to be "bigger, better and stronger" than ever before