Mel Gibson planning a new historical epic
Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/features/3283388LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson is planning another historical epic. And like The Passion of the Christ, it will be shot in an archaic tongue.
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The writer-director plans an October starting date to shoot Apocalypto, set 500 years ago in Central America, his spokesman, Alan Nierob, said.
Dialogue will be spoken in an obscure Mayan dialect, in the same way Gibson used Aramaic and Latin for his religious blockbuster The Passion.
Also like The Passion, Gibson will bankroll Apocalypto himself. Disney has signed on to release it domestically for a fee, similar to the deal Gibson struck with Newmarket Films to distribute The Passion, one of 2004's top hits with $370 million in domestic revenues.
Due out next summer, Apocalypto will feature a cast of unknowns native to the area in Mexico where the film will be shot, according to the Hollywood trade paper Variety. Gibson will not appear in the film, and he's keeping the plot under wraps.