 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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In February 1991 Warner Bros signed a $42 million deal with Mel for a four-film partnership.. Mel would also get royalties and his production company, Icon Productions, would produce the movies. "Forever Young" was the third of these films.
By the end of 1990 Mel was particularly interested in finding a romantique adventure that would evoke the days of stars like Gary Cooper and Cary Grant. Eventually, Gibson settled on a script entitled "The Rest of Daniel " (later changed to "Forever Young"). "The Rest of Daniel" became the most expensive script of its kind in Hollywood history. The studio paid $2 million to writer Jeffrey Abrams.
Jamie Lee Curtis, George Wendt, Isabel Glasser and Elijah Wood were brought on board to costar.
"Forever Young" is the story of an Army Air test pilot (Gibson) who can´t summon the nerve to tell his childhood sweetheart, Helen (Isabel Glasser) he loves her and ask her to marry him. But Helen , injured in an accident, falls into a coma. The pain of being without her lover proves too much for Daniel; he volunteers for a top-secret experiment in cryogenics by an inventor friend, Harry (George Wendt), to escape the pain. More than fifty years later, he is accidentally reawakened by a couple of young boys. Soon he finds out that his fiancée is still alive, and he sets out to find her.
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During the film Mel not only aged emotionally but physically as well, gradually turning , with the help of makeup genius Dick Smith, into a very convincing seventy-year old. Mel enjoyed his new look very much, because he could eat out in restaurants without anyone realising who he was.
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The actor also had some free time that he used to show up at Jamie Lee´s door wearing a hockey mask and wielding a knife .One of his famous jokes, of course.
The film also gave Gibson an opportunity to hold a Los Angeles première and raise funds for two charities: Hollywood´s Recovery Center and Santa Monica´s Homeless Drop-in Center. In all $70,000 was raised towards both centers.
When "Forever Young" did reach the scene in late 1992, movie critics gave it a lukewarm reception, though some praised the cast. "Gibson is such a disarming actor that he actually makes this big-kid fantasia vaguely watchable."; said Los Angeles Times.
In spite of the critics the audience liked the film, that made a fair amount at the box-office- $55 million in the United States and $100 million worldwhile.
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