Thursday, November 23, 2006
The studio is launching an ad campaign to boost the unorthodox film.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
HOLLYWOOD -- Even before Mel Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic tirade this summer, his upcoming film "Apocalypto" was a tough sell.
Graphically violent, subtitled and cast with unknown actors who speak in an obscure dialect, Gibson's tale of a collapsing Mayan civilization was already outside Hollywood's mainstream fare. Then came Gibson's drunken-driving arrest on a coastal highway in July, overnight threatening to turn the Oscar-winning director from the film's biggest asset into its biggest liability.
Starting Thanksgiving night, distributor Walt Disney Studios kicks off a campaign aimed at shifting attention from Gibson's foibles and onto his movie. Up against what the industry is calling "the Mel factor," the director will appear on a prime-time special from Disney's ABC network, hoping to blunt any potential damage he caused "Apocalypto."
Hosted by Diane Sawyer, who snared Gibson's first post-arrest interview last month, ABC is devoting an hour to the Dec. 8 release featuring a fresh interview. The program was arranged before Gibson's arrest and includes footage the network shot on location while he was filming in Mexico. ABC has been heavily promoting the program, advertising it on such hit shows as "Desperate Housewives."
Gibson also agreed to a similar prime-time special on Univision's weekly news magazine show "Aqui Y Ahora" on Nov. 30 with co-host Teresa Rodriguez as part of a promotional blitz aimed at Hispanics. On Dec. 7, one night before "Apocalypto" debuts, Gibson is scheduled as a guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
Marketing mountain
Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook noted that Gibson defied dismal predictions once before by turning "The Passion of the Christ" into a global blockbuster.
"The public is smart enough to differentiate what happens in someone's personal life and their professional life," Cook said. "And, while we knew the marketing mountains we'd have to go up, you realize the movie is in the hands of someone who has conquered all these obstacles before and succeeded in an extraordinary way."
Nonetheless, it's uncertain whether Gibson's fans are ready to forgive him, let alone embrace an R-rated movie he has made on a topic unfamiliar to most audiences.
"I don't envy Disney -- they have an uphill battle," "Spider-Man" producer Laura Ziskin said. "It looks like a hard sell to begin with. He's the tool with which to market it, and he has a black mark against him."
Disney plans to position "Apocalypto" as a riveting action adventure, opening the movie on more than 2,000 screens. Its publicity materials, trailer and TV spots play up the film as a visceral, "heart-stopping" story of a man who escapes from a world on the brink of destruction to save himself, his pregnant wife and their child.
Despite Gibson's DUI arrest, Disney is still treating him as an important selling point: Gibson narrated many TV and radio spots, which started airing this week as part of an aggressive ad buy, and is seen on camera talking about the movie.
Gibson, 50, was arrested July 28. Gibson was reported to have made a number of profane and anti-Semitic remarks to officers, including the statement "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." As part of a plea agreement, Gibson agreed to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, perform public-service announcements and pay 1,300 in fines.
In the days after Gibson's arrest, Cook called the director and his personal publicist, Alan Nierob, to assure them Disney still supported the film and would release it as planned. The studio, however, was concerned whether Gibson would be able to deliver a finished print in time.