Vince Vaughn on Mel Gibson's Pranks Off-Set of New Film, 'Hacksaw Ridge'

— -- Vince Vaughn is starring in a serious role in the new movie, "Hacksaw Ridge."

The Mel Gibson-directed film follows an American soldier who fought on the front lines in WWII without a weapon.

"Mel Gibson's such a great storyteller," Vaughn said on "GMA." "He's a great director -- he made 'Apocalypto,' Braveheart,' 'Passions,' and this is a true story about a guy that just had such conviction and was able to accomplish so much and put himself in harm's way for his brothers-in-arms so it's just an amazing story. I couldn't believe it when it first came across my desk."

In the movie, Vaughn was able to infuse some comedy into his role as drill Sergeant Howell.

"Your job is to bring them together as a unit and his choices bring some particular challenges to that, so it was really on the page to have a lot of the humor and stuff and then, as well as a lot of the drama and things that play out," he said of the character.

Vaughn said he's learned "so much" from working with Gibson on this film, who made realistic battle scenes come to life.

"It's just unbelievable the way he's able to with performance, and with camera...put together a movie that on all cylinders really fires," he said.

For comic relief, Vaughn said that off-set, Gibson was a legendary prankster.

On Halloween, some of the "Hacksaw Ridge" cast celebrated the holiday together.

"Mel had this mask, like professional makeup, it looks like a real person," Vaughn said. "It's incredible. He looked a little bit like Nick Nolte. It looked like a Nick Nolte mask, but it didn't look like he had a mask on. We'd go out to a restaurant on Halloween and someone would be talking. They thought 'Oh, I'm talking to a gentleman who looks slightly like Nick Nolte.' Until, he would grab and peel his face off and then underneath obviously was Mel. People's reactions were so shocked that someone was taking their face off and then it was Mel Gibson."

"Hacksaw Ridge" is in theaters Friday.