New Mel Gibson film to be in Mayan
- From: Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:23:17 -0400
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/26/leisure.gibson.reut/index.html
New Mel Gibson film to be in Mayan
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Actor-director Mel Gibson is well
on his way to cornering a new niche market in Hollywood -- movies
written in exotic languages.
A year after breaking box-office records with "The Passion of the
Christ," which was shot in Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew, Gibson has struck
a deal with the Walt Disney Co. to release his next picture in a Mayan
dialect.
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.
A note on the first page of the script says: "The dialogue you are about
to read will not be spoken in English." Gibson presumably will have the
script translated into Mayan by a scholar of the language and release
the film with English subtitles, as he did for "Passion."
A Disney spokeswoman confirmed that the studio had agreed to team up
with Icon to handle marketing and distribution for the movie but
declined further comment.
Entertainment trade paper Daily Variety reported that at least three
studios passed on the film before Disney landed rights to it.
Still, the Disney deal demonstrates how much Gibson's clout in Hollywood
has grown since he made "Passion," which was financed entirely out of
his own pocket and issued by the small, independent studio Newmarket
Films.
At the time, many industry analysts scoffed at what they saw as the
commercial folly of making a film in Aramaic about the last hours of
Jesus.
But intense media attention and a heavy Christian turnout helped propel
the controversial film to well over $600 million in ticket sales
worldwide, making it the most successful R-rated movie ever.
It remains to be seen whether Gibson can repeat his success with a
subtitled film that lacks a built-in religious-based audience or
controversy like the criticism leveled by some Jewish leaders at
"Passion."
In the meantime, the "Lethal Weapon" star has put on hold what was to be
his next acting project -- the Icon-produced drama "Under and Alone" for
director Antoine Fuqua at Warner Bros., Nierob said.
.
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