RANSOM

"I love doing the LETHAL WEAPON movies, but these can be about the stunts. With this movie is about acting."

BIOGRAPHY

A family man
Quotes
The others
Important dates

ACTOR

Filmography
Gallipoli
The year of...
The river
Max and Riggs
Hamlet
Smith and Rocky
The Patriot
What Women want
We were soldiers
Signs
Soon weīll

PRODUCER

Icon Productions

DIRECTOR

The debut
The Passion
Apocalypto

AWARDS

Oscars and...

MEGAFANS

Portrait
Test
I think...
Movies
Cinemaniac
News
Merchandise
Your message

              "RANSOM" was a remake of the 1956 film of the same name which had starred Glen Ford and Donna Reed. The new version was updated by Alexander Ignon and novelist-screenwriter Richard Price, with Mel Gibson and Rene Russo taking the Ford and Reed roles.

Originally, Gibson had passed on "Ransom" after reading the initial script, but some changes were made and then he decided to take the role of Tom Mullen.

The film was also Melīs debut as a $20 million megastar.

The Mullens are a happy family, whose privileged life is shattered when their young son is kidnapped by a band of criminals and held for a hefty ramson. But the story takes an unusual turn. Instead of paying off the kidnappers, Tom Mullen places a bounty on their heads.

The director was Ron Howard (Apollo XIII) and shooting was carried out mainly in New York and LA.

Behind the scenes, Mel suffered a headlined bout of appendicitis on a flight from LA to New York just two weeks before the Oscar ceremony. He had an emergency operation, halting production for a week.

To make the action scenes look real, Gibson had to perform numerous and dangerous stunts himself, ranging from sidestepping a treacherous traffic to jumping over hoods..

That winter, there was a fascinating duel between "Braveheart" (Mel Gibson) and "ApolloXII" (Ron Howard) . Gibson won Best Director nomination in February 1996. In April, when the envelopes were opened at the Academy Award Ceremony Melīs name was inside.

The film was released in the United States in November 1996, and pulled in a vast opening weekend at the box office ($34,2 million) It was heading for $100 million plus in takings in America alone

"Ransom" received an enthusiastic response from audiencies and critics. "The filmīs major sin- a certain ineluctable improbability-is pretty much offset by the moments of winsome humanity (Gibson) finds for his freebooter; by the rich, nicely tuned portrayals of the other actors; and by director Ron Howardīs smoothly professional mastery of yet another genre that is new to him." (TIME).

For his performane, Mel received a Golden Globe nomination in The Best Actor In a Drama category, though he didnīt take home the prize.




"We gave the character flaws, made him guilty of bribing union officials, stuff like that. That made his dilemma more painful and real, and I thought, OK, now heīs not so squeaky clean."
  • Director.- Ron Howard
  • Producers.- Scott Rudin, Brian Grazer y B.Kiplinh Hagopian
  • Screenplay.- Richard Price y Alexander Ignon
  • Photography.- Piotr Sobocinski
  • Editor.- Dan Hanley y Mike Hill
  • Music- James Horner
  • Cast: Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Brawley Nolte, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo
  • USA 1996


Ron was born in Oklahoma, into an acting family. He was in his first movie at 18 months, Frontier Woman (1956), although his first real part was at the age of 4. Soon a regular on "Playhouse 90" (1956) he was cast as Opie on " The Andy Griffith Show " (1960), and later moved from a child in Mayberry to America's teenager as Richie Cunningham in "Happy Days" (1974). Ron's parents wanted his life to be as normal as possible so he attended public schools and at age 15 even took nine months off to play a basketball season.
In 1976 he received a Golden Globe nomination (The Shootist), but his dream and now his focus was directing. After high school Ron spent two years in a film program at the University of Southern California, but then left, feeling he could learn more from actual experience. His first film, "Grand Theft Auto" (1977), was the hardest to finance but It was a success, and his directorial career was jump-started. In 2002 Howard won Best Director. Married since 1975, heīs enjoying a life of telling stories as one of Hollywood's top directors.
Films: "1,2,3...Splash", "Cocoon", "Willow", "Ransom", "Apolo XIII" and " A Beautiful Mind".

"We just cooked up a scheme between us about how a guy could lose all the tails and radios and microphones. We brought it to Ron, and he thought it was weird and cool."


www.melsmegafans.com