Apocalypto: Mel's Bloody New Beginning?

Hey, whatever happened to that Australian hottie, the one who starred in the Lethal Weapon franchise, was People's inaugural Sexiest Man Alive in 1985 and then won two Oscars for that Scottish movie 10 years later?   

Well, we hear he has since moved behind the camera, a better place to helm blood-drenched epics such as Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, which opens Friday and has been deemed the bloodiest of them all. 

But Mel Gibson's gradual move from actor to auteur is not why people might be thinking differently of him these days. 

Although Passion soared to an $83.8 million opening weekend in 2004 while in the midst of a debate about whether Gibson's portrayal of the last days of Jesus Christ had anti-Semitic overtones, Apocalypto is the filmmaker's first time out in the field since he was figuratively caught with his anti-Semitic pants down during a DUI arrest. 

Which leaves us with oh so many questions, not least of which is whether or not people who otherwise would have seen Gibson's latest opus—about the beginning of the end of the Mayan civilization circa 1517—will now stay away because they were irreparably offended by his drunken rant this summer. 

And will those who either still like Gibson or could care less about what some Hollywood type has to say want to see what Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan calls "a movie that can be confidently recommended only to viewers who have a concentration camp commandant's tolerance for repugnant savagery"? 

(Awkward pause.) 

"The curiosity factor is huge," Paul Dergarabedian, president and founder of Media by Numbers, told E! Online. "And as reprehensible as what Mel Gibson said is, it's like Michael Richards' situation—it raises awareness." (The sale of Seinfeld DVDs skyrocketed after Richards peppered a Laugh Factory crowd with the N-word, promptly getting banned from the club but then spending more time in the public eye than he had in years.) 

"It's not whether what they said was right or wrong, or good or bad—people were talking about those individuals, and the properties they're linked with get more recognition," Dergarabedian said. 

Tom O'Neill, a columnist for the Times' awards site, The Envelope, agreed that Gibson's antics could possibly fill theaters just as easily as keep people away. 

"It's the train wreck factor," he said. "People follow the buzz and this is one of the most talked-about dramas in showbiz this year, and now this is the movie that could save him, this man who was an action hero, constantly coming to the rescue of others in movies, who now needs to rescue himself." 

O'Neill compared a Gibson comeback to Roman Polanski's Best Director win for his Holocaust drama The Pianist at the 2002 Academy Awards. The Polish filmmaker hasn't set foot in the U.S. since the 1970s to avoid being locked up for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He entered a guilty plea to avoid a prison term, but fled to France for fear of having a judge reject the deal. 

Polanski, in absentia, got a standing ovation at the Oscars. 

"This is a good enough movie for them to do it again," O'Neill said. "But will they recoil from the violence? Will they be disgusted by the violence or so disgusted by Mel that they won't even look?" 

Actually, according to some, what Gibson did was no more off-putting (to their film-going habits, that is) than Tom Cruise's couch jump or Angelina Jolie's (well, we're not exactly sure what she did…).  

A Gallup poll released Thursday showed 15 percent of 1,003 adults surveyed saying that they would purposely avoid seeing Gibson's films, less than the 34 percent who said ix-nay to Cruise and the 18 percent who obviously were on Team Jen. 

Meanwhile, Gibson ranked sixth behind Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Will Smith and Sandra Bullock as an actor whose films people would "make a special effort" to see.  

Sportsbook.com has set the over-under mark at $13.5 million for Apocalypto's first weekend, while as of Thursday evening comingsoon.net was predicting it to be number one at the box office with a take of $18.5 million in 2,465 theaters. 

Gibson's highly stylized bloodbath squares off against some substantially lighter fare, including The Holiday, Unaccompanied Minors and, when compared to Apocalypto's graphic torture sequences, at least, Blood Diamond. 

On the other hand, The Passion was intensely violent, and it still racked up (no pun intended) more than $370 million in the U.S. That film was also facing a polarizing—though not as explosive—controversy, and while it was shut out for top awards, it received three Oscar nods, for cinematography, original score and makeup. 

But even if Gibson had never uttered the words "Jew," "wars" or "sugar tits" last July, Apocalypto's brutality could drive away casual moviegoers, and the more obscure subject matter (replete with unknown actors speaking entirely in a Yucatec language) does not have the built-in audience that Gibson maximized to his advantage so brilliantly with The Passion. 

According to Newsweek critic David Ansen, the gruesomeness is so in-your-face, "the relentless pileup of atrocities becomes self-defeating…you may find yourself beset by the urge to giggle." 

"It's not a date movie, it's not a family movie," O'Neill said, perhaps referring to the shot of an eviscerated animal that highlights Apocalypto's first few moments. "Normally you can define a target audience. This is hard to say where to go with this.  

"It redeems Mel as a filmmaker because it's a solid entertainment. But it's a numbing, violent experience to watch." 

Oh, and just in case you thought that the only controversy surrounding this movie was Gibson himself (and his penchant for onscreen barbarity), think again. Guatemalan human rights activists are now expressing anger over what they see as a scary, racist depiction of the Mayan culture, with their formidable bone piercings and proclivity for beheadings. 

"Basically, the director is saying the Mayans are savages," human rights activist Lucio Yaxon told Reuters this week. 

In Entertainment Weekly's Dec. 8 issue, Gibson talks about why he was moved to make a film about the Mayans. 

"You're always looking to do something you have a thirst to see in your own heart and mind," he said. "And there has always been this shroud of mystery about the Mayan civilization. I went down to the Mirador Basin [in Petén, Guatemala] and saw the pyramids, and they're so enormous you can't get your head around it." 

(According to Apocalypto, however, you can successfully roll many heads down the length of one.) 

Gibson also said that people who lined up for The Passion will check out Apocalypto, "if they like good stories." 

"An 18-year-old college guy, out with his buddies, he's going to get into the chase," the director said. "The movie will stand on its own, regardless of any unfortunate experience I may have stumbled upon." 

What's with all the blood and guts, though? 

"This is less violent than Braveheart, I think," Gibson said, a statement that probably won't be duplicated anytime soon. "The sacrifices at the temple are puny in comparison to what they did to the guy on the rack in that movie. But I want people to close their eyes sometimes." 

O'Neill observed that, like Passion, Apocalypto is deserving of the Academy's attention when it comes to the film's technical aspects, such as its sound, editing, music and cinematography.  

The film's star, Rudy Youngblood, has also been praised for his performance, albeit caked in blood, and could be a dark horse for a Best Actor nomination.

On the Tonight Show Thursday, Jay Leno called Apocalypto "visually one of the most stunning films I've ever seen." 

Of course, Gibson was sitting in the chair right next to him.  

The 50-year-old filmmaker told Leno that he has been sober for four and a half months now and, while it hasn't come easy, it's been well worth it. 

"Actually, I've been overwhelmed by understanding," Gibson said. "And it just tells you how you get things wrong sometimes. You know, it's great. A work in progress. Did the right thing. Walk on. Move on. Keep your side of the street clean and move ahead." 

Besides, he said, "if I feel like clutching for the turpentine, I just, you know, DeVito and Clooney talk me through it." 

Oh, there you are, Mel. We were wondering where you've been.