Apocalypto (Mel Gibson, 2006)

[chaddoli]

That looks like a director for the Sci Fi channel imitating Malick.

[Lino]

That looks like a director for the Sci Fi channel imitating Malick.

That's exactly what I was thinking of while watching it. It really looks very uninspiring and uninspired.

[David Ehrenstein]

This just in:

Actor and director Mel Gibson visited two Oklahoma towns this week to attend screenings of his new movie, "Apocalypto."

Gibson did not make a public appearance during screenings held at the Riverwind Casino in Goldsby and Cameron University in Lawton. At the entrance of the casino — where the film was shown Friday to a mostly American Indian audience — reporters were kept behind partitions.

He arrived at Cameron on Thursday morning wearing a mask and wig so he wouldn't be noticed, university spokeswoman Amber McNeil said.

Jhane Myers, an Oklahoma City-based publicist who escorted Gibson, issued a statement saying Gibson was "deeply touched by the warm reception he has received while in Oklahoma."

Myers had said earlier in the week that Gibson had canceled the screenings planned for Oklahoma.

Gibson co-wrote and directed "Apocalypto," which is billed as an action-adventure film set in the last days of the Mayan civilization in Mexico. It will be released Dec. 8.

A mask and a wig? Mel has become Michael Jackson.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Supposedly he's been attending test screenings in disguise for years, it's just that nobody noticed before (or cared enough to report it). It seems like his, ahem, "eccentricities" are coming out of the woodwork now -- I'm looking foward to further Mel wackiness far more than the film itself.

[exte]

For the mature, non-infantile members of this forum:

Will Oscar Voters Judge Mel's Film Fairly? Gibson Sneaks 'Apocalypto' For Native Americans; Both Time/Newsweek Cover?

I've learned that both Time and Newsweek want to put Mel Gibson's Apocalpto on their covers timed to its Dec. 8th opening. This happened with Gibson's The Passion of the Christ: Newsweek made it the cover before the film's release, and Time after the movie was in theaters. It's quite a coup for any Hollywood pic to make the covers of both newsmagazines. "There are a lot of media offers on the table competing for this movie," an insider told me. This may happen without any actual interview of Gibson, too. Any interview would be problematic for Mel's publicity push since it would necessarily dwell on Gibson's alcoholism relapse and drunken rantings against Jews. Because of that, it's still up in the air if there'll be a big network (or even cable) TV one-on-one. But the real issue, now that the Disney movie is starting to garner raves from its sneak screenings, is whether Oscar voters can, or will, judge Mel's film fairly. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are known to hold grudges for a myriad reasons, and Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks over the summer provide ample fuel. Then again, the voters are supposed to judge the merits of the film and not the man behind it. The question is: can that be possible? I certainly don't have an answer yet since it's too early in the process -- most voters won't even start seeing the film until December -- but I can look to the past. After all, they ignored Gibson's Passion for the big noms (Best Actor, Best Director, Best Picture) because of the anti-Semitic overtones some saw in its portrayal of the events surrounding the death of Jesus. And, last year, I reported that hetero Oscar voters were unwilling to screen Brokeback Mountain because of their own anti-gay prejudices. But Mel's film is becoming known as the 'Mexican Braveheart' -- and everyone knows Braveheart won a ton of Oscars. Meanwhile, I'm told that Gibson's alcoholism rehab is going well.

Following up on the Sept. 15th release of the movie's first trailer, Gibson went to the Southwest this weekend to personally host sneak screenings of his forthcoming Apocalypto to Native-American groups in Oklahoma and Texas (as well as to Ain't-It-Cool-News.com's Harry Knowles in Austin). First, Gibson went to Oklahoma, because I'm told that's where the Native-American lead of his film hails from. Rudy Youngblood, the newcomer who plays Jaguar Paw, is a Comanche-Cree-Yaqui Indian who lived near Ada, Ok., before moving to Los Angeles last year to try his hand at acting. Four months later, he was cast by Gibson in Apocalypto's lead role. (I'm told that, as part of Youngblood's audition, he had to run around the conference room where Gibson was casting -- because the last part of the movie is an edge-of-your-seat foot chase through the rain forest.) "Mel was supporting his lead actor. This was a bigger thing going on than the movie," an insider told me. So Gibson travelled to Goldsby, OK, on Friday for screenings for several dozen people, mostly American Indian, including officials of the Chickasaw Nations Industry. Some screenings were held at the Riverwind Casino south of Norman, OK, and some at Camerican University in Lawton, OK. Gibson wore a mask and wig to enter the campus building without being noticed. According to media reports, the action/adventure thriller set in the last days of the Mayan civilization in Mexico, was well received in Oklahoma.

So, too, in Austin, Texas, where the film was presented Saturday as part of Fantastic Fest 2006 with Gibson and Youngblood in attendance. Just prior to that, Gibson held a private screening for Harry Knowles and for the Native American Pow Wow Association of Austin. Though not quite finished -- some visual effects and sound design aren't in place -- Apocalypto is "a film of immense power [that] unfolds unflinchingly," Knowles reviews. "The Native Americans gathered at this screening seemed to love it. What I saw today was a very rough jewel, when I see it again, I trust I will see an immaculate jewel. This could very well be the best film Mel has made when he's done with it." The film received a standing ovation from the Fantastic Fest audience. In a Q-and-A after the private screening, one member of the native American audience asked Gibson if the movie was saying that the decay of the Mayan empire was solely from within (rather than from the influence of European invaders). Gibson replied that he has always felt that the seeds for different civilizations' demise always start from within, as a healthy society can repel any foreign invader. "He does see the film as a metaphor for where we are today," Knowles posted.

[John Cope]

That looks like a director for the Sci Fi channel imitating Malick.

I don't agree. This looks much more inspired by someone like Boorman.

[The Invunche]

Gibson replied that he has always felt that the seeds for different civilizations' demise always start from within, as a healthy society can repel any foreign invader.

I bet Gibson thinks the Mayan empire crumbled because they were infidels. Reminds me of when I was in Egypt last year where I was told the pharaohs disappeared because they weren't Muslim.

[David Ehrenstein]

For the mature, non-infantile members of this forum

ie. those lining up to kiss Mel's fat useless ass.

A Time AND Newsweek cover?

Man that'll show those fuckin' Jews, eh?

[exte]

I bet Gibson thinks the Mayan empire crumbled because they were infidels.

Much the opposite...

Mel campaigns for new movie, against war in Iraq

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:12 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mel Gibson has returned to the spotlight to promote his upcoming movie "Apocalypto," and to criticize the war in Iraq, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Almost two months after he railed against Jews when he was arrested for driving drunk in Malibu, the actor made a surprise appearance Friday at Fantastic Fest, an event in Austin, Texas, devoted to new science fiction, horror and fantasy films, the trade paper said in its Monday edition.

He presented a work-in-progress screening of his Mayan adventure tale, and then took questions. About one-third of the full house gathered for the film gave him a standing ovation. The film is scheduled for a December 8 release via Disney.

In describing its portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," drawing parallels between the Mayan civilization on the brink of collapse and America's present situation. "What's human sacrifice," he asked, "if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"

Appearing alongside Rudy Youngblood, one of the film's actors who hails from the Austin area, Gibson said he plans to make further trims in the film, which ran more than two hours. The print shown did not include sound effects and score, and some visual effects have not yet been added.

Gibson's appearance at the festival, co-founded by Harry Knowles, was reminiscent of a similar appearance he made at Knowles' Butt-Numb-a-Thon, which offered one of the first public previews of "The Passion of the Christ."

[miless]

Well, it must be stated that Mel and Malick are friends (and Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard too)... it's this whole strange religious thing they've got (like Sam and Wim having prayer meetings during the making of Don't Come Knocking)

[David Ehrenstein]

Wim's became a "Born Again" several years back. His work has suffered as a result.

[Ives]

So you're sure it was his conversion to Christianity which caused his work to go south?

[David Ehrenstein]

Yep.

[Antoine Doinel]

I don't think Christianity has anything to do with why The Million Dollar Hotel was so unbelievably awful and unwatchable. Working with Bono on the other hand....

[The Invunche]

Oh come on. When did a religious conversion not "cause work to go south"?

[John Cope]

Oh come on. When did a religious conversion not "cause work to go south"?

I guess that depends on what you consider to be important about the work and whether you agree with it.

As to Wenders, I used to be of the mind that his early work was obviously and by far better than everything since Wings. I no longer believe that. I've returned to the later work recently and begun to reappraise it. I think it's misjudged and that I misjudged it. It isn't all perfect, of course (though I do like Million Dollar Hotel, a position which I'm sure will serve to invalidate anything else I say in the eyes of many); nonetheless, it is operating very much according to its own internal logic and it is meeting its own requirements more often than not. Wenders has much in common with other great post modern filmmakers like Lynch, Rudolph, Maddin, Mann, Almodovar and Zalman King in that he embraces artifice as a means to an emotional end. All of these directors understand fully the intoxicating allure of surfaces and they are sympathetic to those similarly bewitched, lost along with their real feelings inside a whirl of role playing. To dismiss late Wenders or the work of any of these other artists on the grounds that it does not comply with our preconceived aesthetic demands and expectations is just narrow minded and ignorant.

In a lot of ways, a film like Don't Come Knocking is more daring and visionary than something like The State of Things which complies immediately with those preconceived expectations. It simply doesn't challenge us in the same way. Don't Come Knocking was slammed by "sophisticated" critics for being naive and out of touch. But out of touch with what? It is, apparently, hard to believe that Wenders could be (like Lynch, Rudolph and King) willfully embracing a kind of socially perceived naivete, not as a glib and ironic device but rather as a truth to be taken seriously. What Wenders has been doing since Wings is not fashionable, especially in contemporary European film terms, and is thus not engaged with seriously; his achievements and great advances are not acknowledged.

I remember reading moronic critiques of DCK which, amongst other things, railed against all the supposed logical fallacies--the fact that Spence would not be a movie star in this present climate, that Westerns as a popular genre were hopelessly passe and demonstrated how hermetically sealed Wenders and Shepard's world was, and, my favorite one, that George Kennedy could never be a movie director in this day and age. I don't remember who said that but somebody did. All of these comments actually just indicate how out of touch with Wenders' aspirations most critics are. Does anybody really think that Wenders and Shepard don't realize the anomalous social position of their hero? That maybe, just maybe, they might be suggesting that that is the point? That this is not meant to be read in strictly literal terms?

Because Wenders does not attempt to deconstruct archetypal myths like Brokeback does but rather investigates thoroughly their surface allure he and his work are of no use to contemporary tastemakers, who are interested in demystification and have less investment in human sympathy unless it furthers their fashionable political stances. The ideas of family and home in DCK and Land of Plenty or, for that matter, the ideas of violence in End of Violence are presented to us directly but they are not explored in simplistic terms unless you consider the ramifications of emotional investment to be irrelevant. Anyway, if that has anything to do with Wenders' "conversion" (which, if you know a damn thing about Wenders, you'll recognize is being presented here in a typically truncated and disinterested manner) than good.

[The Invunche]

I'll read that when you add some paragraphs.

[John Cope]

Damn, man. And I was trying to get all Laszlo Krasznahorkai on your ass.

Anyway, as you wish....

[Barmy]

Thanks for the defense of recent Wenders. Maybe you should also post it in a Wenders thread.

New paragraph.

For my money, the only "bad" Wenders phase is when he appeared to want to make "popular cinema"--Far Away So Close and Until the End of the World, the latter being one of the worst films ever. I blame that execrable Solveig whatever who he was attached to for awhile.

I also love $Million Hotel, even if Mel said it was as boring as a dog's arse. What does Mel know about dog's arses?

[jorencain]

Ohhhhh, I just realized this movie was about the end of the Mayan civilization. Here I was thinking it was about Apocalypso, Tucson's steel band ensemble for all occasions.

Boy, do I feel stupid.

[tryavna]

Oh come on. When did a religious conversion not "cause work to go south"?

Cardinal Newman's post-conversion writings are superior to his earlier stuff, but he was already a fairly religious man even then.

C.S. Lewis was an inconsequential scholar before his conversion.

Graham Greene is the classic example, I suppose.

There were quite a few composers during the Renaissance who "picked sides," though I'm not sure if that counts as conversion. At any rate, the music of Palestrina and Victoria and Lassus is inconceivable without their religious commitments.

[tryavna]

Oh, I agree. I wasn't trying to catapult Mel into such glorified company. I merely wanted to point out that "getting religion" (in whatever form) doesn't make an artist's work any less intelligent, beautiful, or meaningful. I'm not a particularly relgious man myself, but at times the sacred music of Palestrina, Victoria, Bach, and even an agnostic like Vaughan Williams nearly convinces me to become so.

[exte]

Oh come on. When did a religious conversion not "cause work to go south"?

It's called Breaking the Waves.

[justeleblanc]

Last time I checked Rohmer was pretty fucking religious.

SNAP! (but I'm not sure at who.)

[Mr Sausage]

I think the point was that artists who converted to religion (or lost and came back to it with increased fervour), as opposed to being religious from the start, suffered from artistic decline.