Apocalypto

[Brian in Mesa]

Mel Gibson Directing Apocalypto
Source: Variety
July 22, 2005

The Passion of The Christ director Mel Gibson is getting back behind the camera with the action film Apocalypto, which he also wrote. Walt Disney Pictures will distribute domestically and Gibson's company, Icon, will handle foreign territories.

Variety says Apocalypto is set to begin production in October in Mexico for a summer 2006 release. Gibson will produce along with Icon partner Bruce Davey.

Gibson will not star in Apocalypto and may not use a star for the film, which is set in an ancient civilization some 3,000 years ago. The title is a Greek term which means "an unveiling" or "new beginning."

Consistent with such Gibson films as Braveheart and "Passion," the script depicts abundant action and violence.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Mayan Dialect in Gibson's Apocalypto
Source: Variety
July 25, 2005

Variety reports that Mel Gibson's Apocalypto will be filmed in an obscure Mayan dialect.

Set 3,000 years ago, the film may feature the same kind of subtitles Gibson reluctantly added to The Passion of The Christ. It will star a neophyte cast indigenous to the region of Mexico where Gibson will shoot in October. And it likely will carry an R rating, unless Gibson tempers the onscreen depiction of violent scenes he wrote in his script.

Walt Disney Pictures will distribute domestically and Gibson's company, Icon, will handle foreign territories. Gibson will produce along with Icon partner Bruce Davey.

 

[Chaplin]

For some reason, this appeals to me because it's so different. People complain a lot about lack of originality in movies, I hope they don't dismiss something like this BECAUSE it is so unoriginal.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Mel Gibson Begins Apocalypto Next Month
Source: Associated Press
October 28, 2005

Mel Gibson says a fascination with ancient cultures and great civilizations is what led him to make his upcoming movie Apocalypto, starring unknown Mexican actors speaking in the Mayan tongue of Yucateco.

"What I'm doing is making an action-adventure film of mythic proportions," Gibson, sporting a plaid flannel shirt, jeans and a long salt-and pepper beard, told a news conference Friday. The movie is scheduled to begin production November 14 and will be shot almost entirely in the jungle of Mexico's Veracruz state.

Apocalypto will be light on dialogue and heavy on images and action. It's set 600 years ago, prior to the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America.

Gibson wrote and will direct the film, which he describes as "a story about a man and his woman, his child and his father, his community," adding that the man "is put in an incredibly heightened, stressful situation ... has to overcome tremendous obstacles. So it's a universal story in that respect."

The film's title, Apocalypto, a Greek word for an unveiling or new beginning, "just expresses so well that I want to convey," Gibson said. "I think it's just a universal word. In order for something to begin, something has to end. All of those elements are involved. But it's not a big doomsday picture or anything like that.

Walt Disney Pictures is releasing the movie in North America.

 

[Renz]

Sounds pretty cool!

 

[Renz]

I saw the trailer for Apocalypto when I went to see Casino Royale. I have to say it looked really good.

It's interesting that Touchstone is putting Mel Gibson out front so prominently after all the bad press he got this summer. Whatever your feelings about Gibson personally, the guy is a great filmmaker.

Here's the movie poster:

You must be registered for see images

http://apocalypto.movies.go.com/

 

[Divide Et Impera]

The TV trailers look AMAZING! The premise of the movie is highly intriguing....

 

[Cheesebeef]

Whatever your feelings about Gibson personally, the guy is a great filmmaker.

that's a bit of a stretch IMO. Braveheart was a classic, but his two previous movies were nothing to crow about.

 

[PortlandCardFan]

that's a bit of a stretch IMO. Braveheart was a classic, but his two previous movies were nothing to crow about.

You didn't like "Passions of Christ"?

I thought it was pretty good, but then I can get a kick out SciFi channel movies!!

 

[Cheesebeef]

You didn't like "Passions of Christ"?

I thought it was pretty good, but then I can get a kick out SciFi channel movies!!

seeing a guy take an unmerciful beating for 2.5 hours, without any context, beginning or end and slow mo shots ad naseum of said beaten man falling over and over and over again made ME feel like I was being beaten over the head.

yeah - not the greatest picture as far as filmmaking was concerned IMO.

 

[ajcardfan]

seeing a guy take an unmerciful beating for 2.5 hours, without any context, beginning or end and slow mo shots ad naseum of said beaten man falling over and over and over again made ME feel like I was being beaten over the head.

yeah - not the greatest picture as far as filmmaking was concerned IMO.

I thought it was visually well done though. I also thought the idea of having the actors speak Hebrew and Latin was great. Still, it's a movie I can't bring myself to watch again because it is so graphic. However, I'm still glad I saw it.

 

[Ryanwb]

I thought it was visually well done though. I also thought the idea of having the actors speak Hebrew and Latin was great. Still, it's a movie I can't bring myself to watch again because it is so graphic. However, I'm still glad I saw it.

It was actually Aramaic which is really close to Hebrew

 

[Renz]

Apocalypto is an amazing film! The scenery, costumes and make-up are fabulous. Mel Gibson's attention to detail is truly remarkable and the film is expertly shot and acted.

The use of the last days of the Mayan Empire as a back drop is really fascinating. I don't know how historically accurate the film is, but seeing the Mayan culture brought to life is awesome to see. I can't think of another movie that has tried to explore that ancient culture, so it is very original in that regard.

At its heart though, Apocalypto is just great entertainment. It is an exciting adventure that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.

My wife wanted me to mention Rudy Youngblood's eyes also (he plays the hero, Jaguar Paw). She wants you all to know how amazing and expressive his eyes are. I have to agree that he does do a great job of expressing emotion throughout the movie when he isn't speaking.

As for the subtitles, they aren't a problem. The characters speaking in Mayan actually adds a further dimension of realism to the film.

One last thing, I read quite a few reviews of the film and almost all of them mentioned the amount of blood and gore in the Apocalypto. I was expecting a non-stop bloodbath and I have to say it wasn't half as bad I thought it was going to be.

It is fairly violent, but IMO the violence isn't gratuitous, it is all in the context of the story. The film is about as violent as what you would expect from a society that practices human sacrifice and whose method of warfare is almost exclusively hand-to-hand.

It seems to me that some of the bad reviews harping on the violence in the film are merely trying to scare audiences away because of their dislike of Gibson personally. Apocalypto is no more violent than the average Scorsese picture. There's just more blood because the characters fight with knives and clubs instead of guns.

If people want to stay away from Apocalypto because they don't want to support a Mel Gibson project for personal reasons, I can understand that. If they do, however, they are missing out on a truly superb, exciting experience.

 

[krispydude]

i didnt know much about apocalypto before i saw it and havent seen passion of the christ either, but this movie was pretty damn good.

as renz said, every review i heard that it was just a bloodshed, but honestly it wasn't that bad.

its nice to have a director that makes these kinds of films instead of all this crap hollywood puts out these days.

 

[JPlay]

Damn good movie. I thought it was great.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Apocalypto is an amazing film! The scenery, costumes and make-up are fabulous. Mel Gibson's attention to detail is truly remarkable and the film is expertly shot and acted.

The use of the last days of the Mayan Empire as a back drop is really fascinating. I don't know how historically accurate the film is, but seeing the Mayan culture brought to life is awesome to see. I can't think of another movie that has tried to explore that ancient culture, so it is very original in that regard.

At its heart though, Apocalypto is just great entertainment. It is an exciting adventure that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.

My wife wanted me to mention Rudy Youngblood's eyes also (he plays the hero, Jaguar Paw). She wants you all to know how amazing and expressive his eyes are. I have to agree that he does do a great job of expressing emotion throughout the movie when he isn't speaking.

As for the subtitles, they aren't a problem. The characters speaking in Mayan actually adds a further dimension of realism to the film.

One last thing, I read quite a few reviews of the film and almost all of them mentioned the amount of blood and gore in the Apocalypto. I was expecting a non-stop bloodbath and I have to say it wasn't half as bad I thought it was going to be.

It is fairly violent, but IMO the violence isn't gratuitous, it is all in the context of the story. The film is about as violent as what you would expect from a society that practices human sacrifice and whose method of warfare is almost exclusively hand-to-hand.

It seems to me that some of the bad reviews harping on the violence in the film are merely trying to scare audiences away because of their dislike of Gibson personally. Apocalypto is no more violent than the average Scorsese picture. There's just more blood because the characters fight with knives and clubs instead of guns.

If people want to stay away from Apocalypto because they don't want to support a Mel Gibson project for personal reasons, I can understand that. If they do, however, they are missing out on a truly superb, exciting experience.

I turned to my friend at the end of the movie and (as a Jew) said, "I don't care if the guy is anti-semetic or not - he just made the most insane movie I've seen this year."

unbelievable movie - words can't do it justice.

 

[Chaplin]

I turned to my friend at the end of the movie and (as a Jew) said, "I don't care if the guy is anti-semetic or not - he just made the most insane movie I've seen this year."

unbelievable movie - words can't do it justice.

Stop the press! Cheese and I actually agree on something!

What a spectacular film.

 

[joeshmo]

What an awesome film. That is all I can really say except for, you just got to see it to understand.

 

[se7en]

Although bloody and quite disturbing at times, it was a very good film and one of the best of the year.

 

[Shane]

This was just fantastic! Really no other words for it!

 

[Bada0Bing]

I recently watched this one. Wow what a great movie. Very intense from start to finish. Like was mentioned earlier, plenty of blood, but it wasn't over the top.

Read this in the trivia section at IMDB:

During the course of filming the 170-ft waterfall for the scene in which Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) jumps to escape the headhunters, a real cow that was attempting to cross upstream went over the waterfall. Remarkably, it emerged from the fall alive and the dazed and confused. The animal banged with the current along rocks near the bank. Mel Gibson and crew were certain the cow was done for, but after a local man swam into the river and calmed it, the cow climbed up on bank and began eating grass as if nothing had happened.

The ending especially blew me away.

Spoiler

The looks on their faces when they saw the ships and the way it was filmed was incredible.

 

[Russ Smith]

That was really good. My girlfriend does not like violent and bloody movies but even she was able to look past that and really liked the movie.

 

[dodie53]

i really liked this movie..

 

[Divide Et Impera]

Just watched this movie last night....

Sorry, but I gotta say "F*ck."

What a GD intense movie! This tops Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator for sheer intensity. This could be my favorite movie ever. Excellent script, superb character development, beautiful cinematography, kaleidoscopic coloring, a terrible and terrifying story, heart-pumping urgency and phenomenal acting. Just friggin WOW!

I popped it in the DVD player last night around 9pm because I was tired and thought I'd fall asleep during the movie, but I was WAY wrong. I was up until 1:30 - 2:00 in the morning just buzzing. That movie freaked me out. It was just out of this world fantastic....

 

[ajcardfan]

This movie is truly great. It should've won Best Picture by a mile-and-a-half. I really liked "The Departed" too, but it's not nearly as great as this movie.

Mel Gibson has become some kind of insane genius.