It was all going so well for Mel. That wobbly Malibu incident was more or less behind him, and Apocalypto had surprised everyone to perform at the box office.
But now it’s back to good old-fashioned controversy as Gibson is being sued by Mexican director Juan Catlett, who claims Gibson stole scenes from his 1991 movie Return To Aztlan, which is set in a similar time period and depicts an ancient Mexican civilization at war following a severe drought.
Catlett even alleges that Mel was cheeky enough to request a copy of Return To Aztlan while shooting Apocalypto, and then steal scenes to include in his own movie. It’s not clear which scenes Catlett is referring to (if anyone out there knows, please fill us in) and it’s even less clear what will happen if Catlett’s legal action is successful. Gibson seems to be testing the maxim “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” to the very limit.
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The Apocalypto Scenes Mel Gibson DID Borrow (Probably) » Screenhead said
January 5 2007 @ 9:07 pm
[...] With the recent news that Mel Gibson is being sued for (allegedly) stealing scenes for Apocalypto from a Mexican director, here’s a quick reminder of some other scenes in Apocalypto that ring a few bells. [...]
P. Barr said
February 11 2008 @ 6:03 am
No one has noticed the similarity (OK… a duplicate)of the Apocalypto chase sequence with the chase in the 1966 movie, The Naked Prey. Cornell Wilde plays a 19th Century African big-game hunter who is captured by a hostile tribe. He’s stripped and weaponless, then given a running start, pursued by 8 or 9 warriors. Gibson or the writers surely saw this film, because the 2 chase sequences are virtually identical.