 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 we´ll
PRODUCER
Icon Productions
DIRECTOR
The debut
The Passion
Apocalypto
AWARDS
Oscars and...
MEGAFANS
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"Air America" is based on a book of the same title by British journalist Christopher Robbins. Richard Rush , who had written the script, was set to direct the film as well. But he eventually dropped out of the project due to serious differences with producer Daniel Melnick, and director Bob Rafelson hopped aboard instead. John Eskow was hired to rewrite the script. Because of a Writers Guild strike, Eskow couldn´t get to work and by the time the conflict was settled, Raffelson was off on another project and Roger Spottiswoodie was now in charge.
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Though Sean Connery and Kevin Costner were first mentioned for the roles of a veteran pilot and his younger counterpart, they were apparently out of the filmmakers´ budget. Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. were subsequently cast as Ryack and Billy Covington.
"Air America" is a black comedy about CIA-backed pilots running arms and drugs into Laos during the Vietnam War. Gibson plays a pilot for the covert operation who goes native. Robert Downey Jr. is his younger, more idealistic sidekick.
There were plenty of challenges to make "Air America". First was Gibson´s dislike of flying, which he controlled through flying lessons before the star of the production. Second, the jungle conditions.
Shooting took place in Thailand amid monsoons, earthquakes, and other forces of nature that seemed bent on slowing production to a crawl. Danger lurked close to the set, since the place was under the control of a big-time drug dealer. The cast and crew were working in isolated areas, with all the attendant discomforts- mosquitoes, torrencial rain and very basic accomodations To make matters worse, the relationship between Downey and Spottiswoode was not good.
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About half way through the filming of "Air America", Mel got uncharacte- ristically involved in a row with the film´s producers. He wanted to get home to Australia for the birth of his sixth child but Carolco refused permission to fly back Down Under for a few days and Mel ended up listening on the phone to the details of new baby Milo´s birth. This incident upset Gibson so much that he boycotted the taking of the cast and crew picture at the end of the "Air America" shoot.
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But Air America´s problems did not cease. Six months later, the producers decided that the movie´s ending was not "upbeat enough". They tracked Mel down in London where he was shooting "Hamlet" and rushed him to Shepperton Studios in order to film an entirely new scene.
In te United States the film earned back $31,054,000 of the $35,000,000 million budget. Many veterans of the real Air America complained vociferously, believing that the movie trivialized their efforts. Even Robbins expressed his anger in the press.
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