.- MAD MAX FURY ROAD.- THE ENDLESS STORY
May 2003.- Mad Max 4 was due to start filming early in Namibia, but that was pushed back indefinitely because of the war in Iraq.
Sept.2003.- According to IMDB Studio Brief, drawing conclusions from a report in Variety, Mad Max: Fury Road was dead in the water.
Daily Variety reported that the actor was in talks with Warner Bros. to star in Under and Alone. Gibson had originally intended to shoot Mad Max: Fury Road but halted preproduction citing security concerns following the outbreak of war with Iraq. Production offices in Swakopmund were shut down, dozens of contracts and leases for homes, apartments, car rentals, and caterers were canceled, and sets built for the $100-million movie were warehoused.
Nov 2003.- In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Miller confirmed his plan to make a fourth Mad Max after finishing Happy Feet, Miller said the rising value of the Australian dollar would affect the budget.
"When we started on Mad Max, the Australia dollar was 52 [US cents] ... It's 72 cents now.
"That's a massive blow-out in your budget, which is another problem for Australia."
"I'm all for the runaway productions coming out from the United States. I love the fact that we get the Matrix movies and Star Wars being made here. But the Australian dollar [is] making the differential so tough."
So, we need a fortune-tellerīs help. Meanwhile, go on biting your fingernails.
Thanks to Joäo.
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2004.- WILL WE SEE "UNDER AND ALONE" ?.
It is rumored that Mel Gibson will play ATF Agent Queen who went undercover with the notorious Mongol Motorcycle Club. Under and Alone chronicled how Queen joined the biker gang, rose to become its treasurer, and helped the authorities put away three dozen members for drug dealing, extortion, murder, and arson. Queen is living in witness protection and will publish his autobiography in 2004.
There isn't even a script, although writers have been hired. Will it happen? Please, we canīt wait...
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JANUARY 2004.-PEOPLEīS CHOICE AWARDS
Mel has won Favorite Motion Picture Actor.
Mel Gibson, who was there, though he wasn't sure why, said that he was perplexed: "since I wasn't in a motion picture much this year or last year." But the man voted Favorite Motion Picture Actor for the sixth time thanked his fans regardless "for making me your favorite non-working, thinning-haired actor."
CONGRATULATIONS!. Fascinating Speech.
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POWER PUSH FOR PASSION.- 14/01/2004
One could never accuse Mel Gibson of doing things by halves. He wasn't content with having made a major religious movie that has divided the critics, incensed some religious leaders and which understandably took some time to find a distributor before Gibson agreed to subtitle the Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic dialogue for those of us without a degree in ancient languages. Now Gibson has just secured a massive distribution deal for the movie. The Passion Of The Christ will open on Ash Wednesday in the States on a massive 2000 screens.
At first glance this might seem a tad excessive for any movie with such specifically religious subject matter but then such is the power of association with Mel Gibson. And now that Gibson has the authority of the Pope on his side - the Pontiff's recent critique of the movie was 'It is as it was' - church groups are thundering to block book cinemas for their congregations.
The film's full trailer looks set to be released this weekend .
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THE TRAILER.- 17/01/2004
If you want to see the trailer of "The Passion of Christ",
CLICK
HERE
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POPE DID NOT ENDORSE GIBSON FILM
Tuesday, January 20
ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- In the latest twist in a saga involving the Vatican and Mel Gibson's controversial film about the death of Christ, Pope John Paul II's closest aide has denied reports the pontiff had praised the film's Biblical accuracy.
Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope's long-time private secretary, told the Catholic News Service Monday: "The Holy Father told no one of his opinion of this film."
In the past seven weeks, major world media organizations have written reports based on Church sources saying the pope liked the film and that he told aides that it was an accurate portrayal of Biblical accounts of Christ's final hours.
Dziwisz issued his denial after weeks of reports that the pope had told aides after seeing the film: "It is as it was."
Dziwisz told Catholic News Service: "The Holy Father saw the film privately in his apartment, but gave no declaration to anyone. He does not make judgments on art of this kind. He leaves that to others, to experts."
Supporters had seen the words attributed to the pope as an endorsement of the film's Biblical accuracy, but some Jews worried that they could harm Roman Catholic-Jewish relations.
Columnist Frank Rich of the New York Times, accused the film's producers of "roping him (the pope) into a publicity campaign to sell a movie."
Vatican spokesmen have repeatedly declined officially to confirm or deny the numerous reports over the past month.
The film has been shown to a select audience of Catholic officials in several private screenings in recent weeks.
Many Vatican officials have seen it in whole or part and have rejected charges that it is anti-Semitic.
Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Vatican department in charge of priests, said in September: "I would gladly trade some of the homilies that I have given about the passion of Christ for even a few of the scenes of his film."
Gibson reportedly paid $20 million to $25 million of his own money to make the movie, but despite his status as a top box office draw and Oscar winner, Hollywood's major studios shied away from distributing it because of the controversy.
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YES, NO, YES, NO, YES, NO....
These guys are driving us CRAZY!
MEL MEGAFANS
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GIBSON HOPEFUL ABOUT PASSION
Mel Gibson is hoping for a good reaction to his upcoming controversial movie The Passion of the Christ, but is expecting the worst, the Reuters news service reported. "I anticipate the worst is yet to come," the Australian actor told 4,500 evangelical Christian pastors at a showing in Orlando, Fla., Reuters reported. "I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong."
Gibson made the film to show in gruesome detail how Jesus died to redeem mankind, a central tenet of Christian belief, the news service reported. But the Passion-from the Latin word for suffering-could also be seen as the story of how Jews plotted to kill him.
Jewish leaders have been saying for months that any film based on the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life and death risked depicting Jews as Christ-killers and stirring up anti-Semitism, Reuters reported.
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J. D. ROBBīS "IN DEATH", BY CHERYL.HILL
I've heard that Mel and Bruce have been optioned by Fox 2000 to do a full-length feature film based on J.D. Robb's (Nora Roberts) futuristic "in Death" series. If so, I just want to say I think that was a very clever move (should be extremely profitable) and there are a LOT of J.D. Robb fans looking forward to this. I sincerely hope they keep as close to the original story line as possible!!!>
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THANKS VERY MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION, CHERYL.HILL
MEL MEGAFANS
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FEBRUARY 4.-Christian Groups Behind The Passion of the Christ Opening Day
Christian groups are going so far as buying out entire theaters so people may watch Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ and then discuss its message in church, AP reports. Says Josh Baran, a public relations executive publicizing the film, "They're going to bus them to theater. They will give assignments in many churches--go to the movie, we're going to talk about it." Other groups are going still further, standing in line to buy people tickets to the film, free of charge.
Cory Engel, pastor of Harvest Springs Community Church in Great Falls, Montana explains, "This is a window of opportunity we have. Here's a guy who's putting his money into a movie that has everything to do with what we do. Churches used to communicate by having a little lecture time on Sunday morning. People don't interact that way anymore."
The Passion of the Christ will open in 2,000 theaters on Ash Wednesday, a remarkable number considering the film is self-financed by director Gibson and all the dialog is in Aramaic and Latin. Jewish and Christian groups have expressed concern that Gibson's film depicts Jews as being solely responsible for the death of Jesus. "When they attack him, they attack millions of people in middle America," said Jennifer Giroux who created a website devoted to getting people to watch the film, "We have watched films concerning the Holocaust with compassion, concern and with sorrow, and we just want to be able to watch this beautiful, beautiful movie about our faith."
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