 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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"Payback" is a remake of the 1967 Lee Marvin thriller "Point Blank", based on the novel "The Hunter" by Richard Stark.
This film would mark the directorial debut of its writer, Brian Helgeland ("Conspiracy Theory" and "(LA Confidential"). During the making of Conspiracy Theory, Helgeland and Gibson had become good friends. Brian had been working on the script and Gibson asked him what he was up to, the writer showed him, Mel saw they were on the same wavelenght, and he signed on to play Porter with Helgeland at the helm. Gibson´s own company, Icon Productions, would produce the film for Paramount Pictures. Their amicable relationship failed to survive the making of the movie., After "Payback" was completed and test-screened, Mel, one of the movie´s producers, initiated rewrites and reshoots. According to press accounts, Helgeland then ended his involvement in the production, leading some in Hollywood to gossip that the film was "ghost-directed" by Gibson.
Terry Hayes was hired to rewrite the script and a quarter of the film was refilmed.
Mel´s companions were Maria Bello, James Coburn, Lucy Lu and Gregg Henry.
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Payback´s main character, Porter, is a man that wants to take revenge on his partner, Val. Val had taken his half of the loot from a heist, stolen his wife, and shot and left Porter for dead. After Porter resurfaces, the action turns into a blood-bath
Shooting of the film took place in Chicago and during its production, Mel visited a battered women´s shelter and made an important monetary donation.
"Payback" opened in the winter of 1999. The thriller sailed to a total of $81,5 million in ticket sales.
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