Statuesque actress Sigourney Weaver loves collaborating on films with Mel Gibson - because he is one of the few Hollywood actors who doesn't make her feel insecure about her height.

Weaver admits she's struggled with accepting her unusually tall frame - she is 5 feet, 11 inches (1.82 metres) - because it has often intimidated Hollywood's leading men.

But she insists she's learned to accept her height since appearing in 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously with Gibson, because his humour about her insecurity helped her get over her fears.

She says, "When I first started out there were very few tall actors... Mel Gibson got on a box, never had a problem. He was just as sweet as can be.

"He was just so secure about my height. He just thought it was a lark, he thought it was funny."