[Mel]Gibson breaks tradition with film in Latin

Yahoo News ^ | Fri Sep 20 | Reuters

[Polycarp]

Gibson breaks tradition with film in Latin

Fri Sep 20, 3:35 PM ET

ROME (Reuters) - A film in two ancient tongues with no subtitles?

The off-beat formula hardly sounds like the recipe for a hit movie but Mel Gibson thinks language should be no barrier.

"Passion" -- a Gibson-directed flick about Christ's last 12 hours -- will be in Latin and Aramaic.

"For me that's more real and hopefully I'll be able to transcend language barriers with filmic story-telling," Gibson told reporters on Friday.

"It's very visual and it's about something that has...affected civilisation in every possible way you can imagine," the 46-year-old actor, a devout Catholic, added.

But Gibson, a perennial Hollywood favourite with lead roles in the hit "Lethal Weapon" series, "Braveheart" and more recently "Signs", acknowledged his choice of languages for the new film was causing headaches as far as U.S. distributors were concerned.

"No one wants to touch something in two dead languages. They think I'm insane, maybe I am," joked Gibson, who was born in New York but grew up in Australia.

The abolition of the Latin mass was one of the key reforms adopted in the 1960s by the Second Vatican ( news - web sites) Council, which sought to bring the liturgy closer to ordinary people.

But Gibson is very much of the old school, and a Latin service is still held at the private chapel of his California home.

He also had some sharp words for the modern-day Catholic Church, rocked this year by allegations of child abuse.

"It's very easy to be shaken these days faith-wise. All this kind of paedophilia stuff in the United States, it's hard to hang on to a foundation with this stuff going on," he told Reuters.

Shooting will switch between the famous Cinecitta studios just outside Rome and cave-riddled Matera in southern Italy.

Gibson acknowledged he was filming "in the shadow of the dome" but brushed aside questions on whether the Vatican would approve of the film.

"I don't know what they like these days," he said, adding his priority was to make a credible film.

"Many people have told the story but...it's like looking at it from the wrong end of the telescope, I mean Jesus either suffers from bad hair or it's inaccurate or you don't believe it," he said.

But Gibson, who turned down Martin Scorsese's offer of playing Jesus, has once again shied away from the role, giving it to Jim Caviezel, star of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "High Crimes".

"There's two things I wouldn't do on film and I said this when I was in my 20s -- I will never play myself if it ever comes to that and I will never play Jesus."

[Polycarp]

"No one wants to touch something in two dead languages. They think I'm insane, maybe I am," joked Gibson, who was born in New York but grew up in Australia.

The abolition of the Latin mass was one of the key reforms adopted in the 1960s by the Second Vatican ( news - web sites) Council, which sought to bring the liturgy closer to ordinary people.

But Gibson is very much of the old school, and a Latin service is still held at the private chapel of his California home.

He also had some sharp words for the modern-day Catholic Church, rocked this year by allegations of child abuse.

"It's very easy to be shaken these days faith-wise. All this kind of paedophilia stuff in the United States, it's hard to hang on to a foundation with this stuff going on," he told Reuters.

[dodger]

Good on ye, Mel.

[Darth Sidious]

Mel's crossing a terrible, terrible line here. Good lord man, use subtitles!! Heck "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" used them, and it didn't hurt THAT any.

[DSHambone]

Mrs. Velders should have lived so long!!! For a zillion years she taught us nutheads Latin in a Florida Public School. Great teacher - lots signed up for Latin just because of her.

Way to go Mel!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Closed-captioned for the Latin impaired maybe?

[Polycarp]

;-)

[hosepipe]

Gibson must be a catholic...
Others might of liked it in ancient Greek.
You know, the language the scripts that the bible was translated from, mostly.
The whole thing seems silly to me, however.

[Highway55]

Vah! Denuone Latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.

[goodieD]

Interesting, gutsy, financial suicide..but Mel can probably afford it.. his career is far enough along to be allowed an eccentric vanity now and again. I'm behind him!

[kstewskis]

gotta love Mel.

All the more reason to get out and learn the lost language. Perhaps the DVD version will have the subtitles?

[Domestic Church]

The Roman soldiers would have spoken latin not greek.

[Domestic Church]

I don't think it is cinema suicide but a ground breaker and it will make latin "interesting" for some. This is ahead of the wave.

[goodieD]

Either way I'll still run out and see it.. I love Mel and 99 percent of his work.

[kstewskis]

gotta bump that!

[hosepipe]

"The Roman soldiers would have spoken latin not greek."

True!.... My mind was on vacation but my typeing fingers were working overtime..evidently my mind was in another thread...

"I stood Among them, but not of them; in a shroud Of thoughts which were not their thoughts"
.....Lord Byron

[Dajjal]

Mirabilis notio!!!

[Northern Yankee]

((((((Ping!)))))

[Tijeras_Slim]

Perhaps the DVD version will have the subtitles?

Sure, in Linear B.