In the year 1999 Gibson had a featured role in The Million Dollar Hotel.
Based on a story by Bono and directed by Wim Wenders, Mel was, initially, delighted with this project and his own company Icon Production made it. But something happened from script to screen because Gibson´s feeling about The Million Dollar Hotel were no longer positive. In fact he went on record in The Hollywood Reporter with the statement that the film was "as boring as a dog´s ass", although he later said that the comments were made anything more than jokingly.
Most U.S. distributors agreed with him and the movie, which premiered at the Berlin International Festival in February 2000, didn´t get a U.S: release until the following year. This fact gave testament to Mel´s influence . Finally, the film opened and closed in limited release in just a few weeks.
Mel plays a FBI agent named Skinner investigating the suspicious death of a billionaire´s son who took a dive from the roof of an old hotel in downtown Los Angeles that is now the domain of mental patients and the homeless cast off by the city´s welfare and health-care systems.
Critics were mixed, but Mel passed the exam . "A major redeeming feature of the film-and its biggest surprise- is Gibson enjoyably deadpan performance as the FBI agent. It´s his best performace in years.", said the New York Post . "Mel Gibson excelled in one of his most complex roles" remarked Los Angeles Time.
But The Million Dollar Hotel didn´t translate into box-office gold.
WIM WENDERS
One of the most important directors on the international scene, Wenders first came to prominence with films that focused on postwar Germany and the Americanization of its culture; the rootlessness of his characters also addresses some deeper, philosophical concerns. This was certainly true of his first, critically praised feature, "The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick" (1971), which he followed with an adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter" (1972). His three "road movies" of the 1970s : "Alice in the Cities" (1974), "Wrong Move" (1975), and the mammoth "Kings of the Road" (1976), deal with these issues and also convey Wenders' deep love of cinema and rock and roll
Wenders won worldwide acclaim for 1984's Paris, Texas the story of a drifter making peace with his turbulent past, including a son he's never known; the film earned the Palme D'Or at Cannes. Wenders then returned to Germany to direct "Wings of Desire" (1988), a fable of angels hovering over Berlin.. His most ambitious production was "Until the End of the World" (1991), a science-fiction drama shot in more than five countries and featuring an international cast led by William Hurt. Wenders has also made unconventional documentaries over the years, including the visual diary Tokyo-Ga (1985), a tribute to filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, and "Notebook on Cities and Clothes" (1989 ). He directed a music video for U2 called "Night and Day."
Other films: "Hammett", "The American Friend", "The State of Things", "Lightning Over Water" and "The Million dollar Hotel".
THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL
Director.- Wim Wenders
Producers.- Dreepak Nayar, Bono, Nicholas Klein, Bruce Davey y Win Wenders
Photography.- Phedon Papamichael
Screenplay.- Nicholas Klein, según una idea de Bono
Music.- Bono, Brian Eno, U2
Editor.- Tatiana Riegel
Cast.- Mel Gibson, Jeremy Davies, Mila Jovovich, Tim Roth
BIOGRAPHY
