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 relatively unknown actors who speak their lines in an obscure dialect, Gibson's tale of a collapsing Mayan civilization was already outside Hollywood's mainstream fare. Then came Gibson's humiliating drunken driving arrest on a Malibu highway in July, which overnight threatened 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 on Disney's ABC network, hoping to blunt any damage that he may have 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. 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, who co-wrote and produced the movie but does not appear in it, also agreed to a similar prime-time special on Univision's weekly news magazine show "Aqui y Ahora" ("Here and Now") on Nov. 30 with co-host Teresa Rodriguez as part of a promotional blitz aimed at Latinos. One night before "Apocalypto" debuts in theaters, Gibson is scheduled as a guest on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."
Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook believes that moviegoers can separate Gibson's off-screen behavior from his work behind the camera. He noted that the filmmaker once before defied dismal predictions 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 that he has made on a topic unfamiliar to most audiences.
