Mel Gibson is hard at work on his next project. CNN provides a few interesting details:
Gibson is due to begin shooting the film, titled Apocalypto, on location in Mexico in October and is aiming for a summer 2006 release, spokesman Alan Nierob said on Monday.
As with Passion, Gibson will direct and produce the Mayan-language film from his own script through his own company, Icon Productions, and he will not appear in the movie.
The film's cast will consist of unknown performers native to the region of Mexico where the film is being shot, Nierob said. Few others details about Gibson's project were revealed.
"He lets his work speak for itself," Nierob said.
The story, which Gibson began writing nine months ago, is described as a "unique adventure" set 500 years in the past. Nierob said the title, Apocalypto, was taken from the Greek word for an unveiling or new beginning.
OK, so first off we have yet another film done in an archaic language. That's cool with me. The whole Aramaic thing with the last film didn't bother me as it did some others at the time. I respected it and respected him for having the balls to do it.
Then we have the title and plot description. The details are thin, but enough can be construed from what is given. "500 years in the past", according to this Mayan timeline, puts us around the Spanish conquest led by Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. As the timeline phrases it, "What force does not accomplish, disease does. Smallpox, measles, influenza, and other introduced diseases kill about 90 percent of the Maya within a century."
So, we have a very powerful and fervent Catholic tackling a period in history where some very powerful and fervent Catholics nearly decimate a civilization. What happened, Mel? Did another studio have a Spanish Inquisition film already in production?
Now, Mel is nothing if not shrewd. The Passion proved that. He's not about to piss off all those culturally conservative Christians who now admire him by making some PC film that paints European Catholics in a poor light. Or would he?
Article comments
1 - DrPat
Or maybe Mel simply discovered his ability to tell a powerful story, powerfully, by "pulling no punches." Whatever else Passion was, it was potent.
I say, go for it, Mel. Do it again!
2 - Aaman
Why would he pick a Greek name for a film about Mayans and the Spanish invasion?
3 - Phillip Winn
'Cause it involves Roman Catholics (I'm guessing) that were quite familiar with Greek, especially Greek words featured in the Bible?
4 - LP
Mel Gibson on Fahrenheit 9/11 and the Iraq war (Jan 2005):
"I feel a kind of strange kinship with Michael. They're always tying to pit us against each other in the press...the left, the right…" he commented, clearly dismissive of the idea.
"I saw his film, I liked it," Gibson said of "9/11," though he indicated that he might disagree with some points and some editing. "However, the question - and I didn't need to see his film to answer the question - is, why are we in Iraq?"
Gibson said that no one had explained to him adequately "why we went in and why we're there."
5 - Raudel
Interesting stuff. I hope it comes out good as I am Mexican and would like to know something about my Mexican ancestry! Well, that's if the story is actually about the Spanish invasion.
6 - Six
I think you're off on the setting. I've red that it is set 3,000 years ago, and has nothing to do with the first contact with the Spanish.