After shrouding his next film in relative secrecy, Mel Gibson has finally started to reveal some details about Mayan mystery Apocalypto.
Following The Passion Of The Christ's huge success, he’s been able to do what he wants. And what he wants is to film entirely in the Mayan dialect of Yucatec, using a cast of unknown actors for a story set 600 years ago. The plot will delve into the mysterious decline of the Mayan civilization before the arrival of the Spanish conquest.
"That is merely the backdrop of what I am doing," Gibson says "Although the culture is an integral part of the story, what I am doing is creating an action-adventure of mythic proportions ... and I am a megalomaniac, so I like the position."
The title sounds like a Michael Bay historical thriller, but translated from ancient Greek, it actually means an unveiling, or a new beginning. "I am hoping that by focusing on this civilization we are able to be introspective about ourselves."
And then there’s that script. "I wrote the script, I know what the characters are saying. But don't expect speeches,” reveals Gibson. The film’s apparently light on dialogue but full of “visual storytelling”, like The Passion. "We began with an ending and we went back and put a beginning on it," admitted the director. "A lot of this, the storylines I just made up, and then oddly, when I checked it out with historians and archaeologists, it's not that far from wrong." But it will, according to Gibson, be gory.
Beginning next month, it’ll take five months to shoot, with Gibson filming in the jungles of Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico and in a purpose-built Mayan city in the area.
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