5 MARCH 2006.- THE SPEECH
Without the subtitles, it would have been impossible to know what Mel Gibson was saying during the opening segment of Sunday's Oscar telecast. He was talking in Maya, the ancient language that is the only one spoken in his upcoming movie, Apocalypto. "I wanted to shake up the stale action-adventure genre," Gibson told Time for a story on the magazine's Web site. "So I think we almost had to come up with something utterly different like this."
The distinguished guests (very angry with Mr. Gibson because they could not eat popcorn, sneeze or cough during the projection) e-mailed us. They told us everything.
THANKS, Ladies and Gentlemen.
7 MARCH 2006.- THE COMPOSER
We hear that James Horner is composing the soundtrack. Great news!, but can we believe this info?.
Some time ago we saw that Mauricio Amuy starred in the teaser trailer and, apparently, he´s not playing any part in Apocalypto so...
16 MARCH 2006.- PASO DE OVEJAS
A replica of the archaeological area of Tikal (Guatemala) has been built in the middle of a thick forest.
About 500 labourers from the neighbourhood were hired to construct the pyramids and fifty or sixty thatched huts.
According to some people from Paso de Ovejas, it took them quite ten months to finish the building of this enormous set.
This new set is located in "La Cueva del Burro", a beautiful valley surrounded by hills that have been invaded by trailers and vans.
Icon Production is deploying strict security measures to protect the shoot against passersby and reporters.
It is said that the activity in the zone increases at midnight.
The great Maya capital, one of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere around the year 500, when its population peaked at approximately 100,000.
Tikal was an important religious, cultural and commercial center for more than a century, from the time the Maya settled the area around 600 B.C, until their empire collapsed circa 900 A.D. The city's majestic monuments remained standing but disappeared from view as thick tropical foliage grew over them.
An expedition financed by the government of Guatemala rediscovered the site in 1848. However, archaeological excavations were not undertaken until Tikal National Park was created in 1955. In 1979, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared the site a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
To date, 12 square miles containing more than 4,000 structures have been mapped.
One of Tikal's more impressive structures is part of the complex known as the Lost World. It is the site's oldest visible building and the Maya's earliest existing astronomical observatory. Known as the Great Pyramid, it is designed with steps on all four sides and no summit temple.
The most remote structure is the Temple of the Inscriptions at the very end of the one-kilometer Mendez Causeway. Its roof comb displays the longest hieroglyphic text at Tikal, including a date that translates as 766 A.D.
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20 MARCH 2006.- TIME REPORT
"Time" magazine publishes a report about Apocalypto. Here, a short summary.
Apocalypto was inspired in large part by Gibson´s work with the Mirador Basin Project, an effort to preserve a large swath of the Guatemalan rain forest and its Maya ruins. Last year Gibson and Farhad Safinia began poring over Maya myths of creation and destruction, including the Popol Vuh, and research suggesting that ecological abuse and war-mongering were major contributors to the Maya's sudden collapse, some 500 years before Europeans arrived in the Americas.
Those apocalyptic strains haunt Apocalypto, which takes place in an opulent but decaying Maya kingdom, whose leaders insist that if the gods are not appeased by more temples and human sacrifices, the crops will die. But the writers hope that the larger themes of decline will be a wake-up call. "The parallels between the environmental imbalance and corruption of values that doomed the Maya and what's happening to our own civilization are eerie," says Safinia. Gibson puts it more bluntly: "The fearmongering we depict in this film reminds me a little of President Bush and his guys."
But Gibson also wants to "shake up the stale action-adventure genre. We had to think of something utterly different." The Mad Maya hero in Apocalypto is Jaguar Paw. His escape through the Mexican rain forest will "feel like a car chase that just keeps turning the screws," says Gibson In order to shoot this chase Gibson and cinematographer Dean Semler are using a new digital camera system, Panavision's Genesis, that yields a "tremendous sensation of velocity".
Tom Sanders, a veteran production designer, affirms that Apocalypto is the hardest show he has ever worked on. They have consulted thousands of archaeology books and magazines. Costume and makeup artisans from Mexico and Italy are re-creating feathers of the nearly extinct quetzal for royal headdresses and long, looping earlobe extensions for warriors.
The budget of Apocalypto is about $50 million.
Mayas had a sense of physical beauty very different from other peoples in Mesoamerica.They used to make deformant practices upon their body. This was to complement their indumentary. They prized a long, backward sloping forehead; in order to attain this look, infants would have their skulls bound with boards. Crossed-eyes were an important item of physical beauty; infants would have objects dangled in front of their eyes in order to permanently cross their eyes. They also perforated their nasal partition or the wings of the nose in order to put the "nariguera" . Below the lip a fissure to place the "bezote" and of course a hole in the ear for the earring -"orejera".
Also they practiced dentary mutilation in the incisors and canines, where they put incrustations of jadeite or obsidian or iron pirite. Their tatoos in face and body were practiced by a procedure of escarification.
They had little body hair and they put warm rags on their faces to avoid the growing of the beard.
In some iconographical representations, some men appear with beard. It seems that the use of the beard was reserved to certain noble persons.
Gold, silver, jade, shell and colorful plumage were also used as ornaments.
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25 MARCH 2006.- EXCLUSIVE!!! THE DIRECTOR AND THE CREW
A crew member (Apocalypto) has related us the following episode.
"Mel Gibson often comes to the set wearing odd socks. You can see this very plainly because more often than not he has forgotten to remove his cycle clips from the bottom of his trousers. Lunch break is at a quarter past twelve. Having no idea of the passage of time he continues working until long after twelve thirty. When this happens we become restless and sneeze and cough to catch his attention. One day we decided to bring an alarm clock each and set them to go off at a quarter past twelve. But nothing happened. He was too absorved in thought to notice the noise, and we never got around to repeating the experiment.
It was one of the funniest episodes in my life."
OUR THANKS TO "Mr. SMITH" FOR HIS HELP
This week Gibson was choreographing scores of extras-- many of them local Mayas who've never seen a movie, let alone acted in one-- in a fiery scene depicting a Maya city's obsession with the kilned limestone used for the temples in which some of the crowd may soon be sacrificed to the gods. Holding a Camel cigarette in one hand and a bullhorn in the other, Gibson put on his best bug-eyed Lethal Weapon face and pleaded with them to "show more fear, more trepidation! It's like Mars! It's hell on Earth!" When most of them gave him blank stares, Gibson sheepishly turned to the crew. "Traduccion, por favor" - translation, please.
Then Gibson picked up the bullhorn again and approached another crowd of extras covered like ghosts in thick white limestone powder. "Try to think of what makes you most afraid!" he shouted. "My mother!" an extra shouted back. Gibson smiled and nodded at the crew: "I told you this film was going to be very, very different."
19 March 2006, "TIME"
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16 APRIL 2006.- RAIN, RAIN AND RAIN
"Apocalypto" has been bumped from an August 4th release to December 8th.
A spokesman for Disney, which is releasing the film, says the production had fallen behind because of heavy rains in the wilds of Mexico, where Gibson is shooting.
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Our reporter in the area
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IT IS SAID THAT...
A heavy storm hit the set and caused serious damage to constructions and essential equipment. The film director hopes that the set will be reconstructed in record time.
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CHEER UP!. That gives "Apocalypto" great potential as an Oscar contender.
Famous local WITCH hired by Icon Productions
31 MAY 2006.- POSTER NUMBER ONE
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The first one-sheet poster for Apocalypto was released, so the film now has an iconic image to go with it along with the tagline "No one can outrun their destiny."
Someone affirms that the gentleman is actor Mauricio Amuy. We´ll have to examine it carefully before making our opinion public.
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15 JUNE 2006.- APOCALYPTO IN LAS GRANJAS
According to D. Próspero Rebolledo Ramírez (and this gentleman really knows what he's talking about), the shoot of Apocalypto, produced and directed by Mel Gibson, will end next July, around the second week. The last location will be Las Granjas, municipality near Boca del Rio.
Mel Gibson has been shooting Apocalypto since November (2005). Due to unforseen circumstances (rain, rain and rain + heavy storm) the initial plans had to be modified. In short: a delay of up two months. Then the post-production and the movie will be ready to be released next December in USA.
The production has received a great deal of criticism from the authorities of Yucatan. They are very peeved because Apocalypto has been shot on locations in Veracruz instead of the Yucatan Peninsula, where mayan culture has its roots.
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14 JUlY 2006.- BYE, BYE MEXICO AND THANKS
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Mel Gibson has informed Fidel Herrera Beltrán, Governor of the state of Veracruz, that he will finance housing for needy families in the municipalities of San Andres Tuxtla and Veracruz.
The Rotay Club and The DIF will be in charge of the whole project.
Gibson has wanted to thank Veracruz for all the support and help that local people have given him during these months.
He has also remarked the beuaty of the scenery, which has struck him deeply, and the good working conditions, high level of security and professionalism he has found everywhere. Gibson has promised to come back in the future. Probably to shoot a new film in the area.
Mel Gibson has affirmed that he had felt like home.
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Last Sunday Mel Gibson finished shooting APOCALYPTO in the state of Veracruz.
Gerardo Taracena, who plays Middle Eye, admits that the shoot has been more difficult that he thought it would be.
They have endured intensive working days, which began at 4 am. and went on for more than 15 hours. The fatigue got on Mel Gibson's nerves from time to time and he didn't keep his temper, although he usually was a nice "boss".
"I've lost weight, quite ten kilos, although we have stuck to a balanced diet: vegetables, fish and tons of water. Now I need a holiday. I think I deserve a rest," says Taracena.
Mel Gibson has come back to USA where he's very busy with the post-production of the film, which will be released next December.
According to Prospero Rebolledo, Mel Gibson liked escaping from the security guards, that local authorities had appointed to look after him, and spent his free time dancing in Mambo Café" and "La Casona" while his desperate bodyguards tried to find him.
Mr. Rebolledo has also said that some businessmen have shown a great interest in the pyramids. They're planning to build new ones in Orizaba in order to attract the attention of filmmakers to the area.
CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY (especially we congratulate ourselves on having survived these *suffocating* months) and GOOD LUCK!!!.
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BIOGRAPHY
