Apocalypto | |
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Directed by | Mel Gibson |
Produced by |
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Written by | |
Starring |
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Music by | James Horner |
Cinematography | Dean Semler |
Edited by | John Wright |
Touchstone Pictures Icon Productions | |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
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138 minutes[1] | |
Country | United States |
Language | Yucatec Mayan |
Budget | $40 million[2] |
Box office | $120.7 million[2] |
“ | We started to talk about what to do next, but we specifically spent a lot of time on the action-chase genre of filmmaking. Those conversations essentially grew into the skeleton of ('Apocalypto'). We wanted to update the chase genre by, in fact, not updating it with technology or machinery but stripping it down to its most intense form, which is a man running for his life, and at the same time getting back to something that matters to him. —Farhad Safinia[3] | ” |
“ | The Mayas were far more interesting to us. You can choose a civilization that is bloodthirsty, or you can show the Maya civilization that was so sophisticated with an immense knowledge of medicine, science, archaeology and engineering ... but also be able to illuminate the brutal undercurrent and ritual savagery that they practiced. It was a far more interesting world to explore why and what happened to them. —Farhad Safinia[3] | ” |
“ | We had a Spydercam shot from the top of [the] 150-foot [46 m] waterfall, looking over an actor's shoulder and then plunging over the edge—literally in the waterfall. I thought we'd be doing it on film, but we put the Genesis [camera] up there in a light-weight water housing. The temperatures were beyond 100 degrees [38 °C] at [the] top, and about 60 degrees [15 °C] at the bottom, with the water and the mist. We shot two fifty-minute tapes without any problems—though we [did get] water in there once and fogged up.[14] | ” |
“ | Maya civilization in the Central Area reached its full glory in the early eighth century, but it must have contained the seeds of its own destruction, for in the century and a half that followed, all its magnificent cities had fallen into decline and ultimately suffered abandonment. This was surely one of the most profound social and demographic catastrophes of all human history.[23] | ” |
About 25 members of the Maya community in Los Angeles were invited to an advance screening of Gibson's film last week. Two of those who attended came away impressed, but added that they too wished Gibson had shown more of the Maya civilization. 'It was a great action film that kept me on the edge of my seat,' said Sara Zapata Mijares, president and founder of Federacion de Clubes Yucatecos-USA. 'I think it should have had a little bit more of the culture', such as the pyramids. 'It could have shown a little more why these buildings were built.
Translation from the original in Spanish: 'La mala noticia es que esta interpretación histórica tiene alguna dosis de realidad... Los personajes de Mel Gibson se parecen más a los mayas de los murales de Bonampak que a los que aparecen en los libros de la SEP'