Mel Gibson Gets Surprisingly Helpful Notes From Montezuma
Perhaps it's time to consider soberly the possibility that Mel Gibson's been driven insane by the astounding financial rewards derived from pouring his heart into a snuff film about his savior, The Passion of the Christ. The now dramatically bearded Gibson (think Saddam Hussein with a better stylist) is not only directing in tongues on a full-time basis, but holds press conferences in which he suspiciously withholds details about his newest movie, but generously touches on his heroic battles with diarrhea. The LAT passes along this nugget about Gibson's gastrointestinal distress on the set of Apocalypto:
Though the project so far hasn't been the ordeal of "The Passion," Gibson said that he had contracted the ancient affliction of interlopers in Mesoamerica, sometimes called Montezuma's revenge. "At this moment here in Mexico, my mouth likes the food but my stomach doesn't," he said.
Gibson's struggles with the runs haven't been a total disaster for the production, however. In fact, the writer/director credited his frequent "story meetings" with the angry, ass-puckering spirit of Montezuma as instrumental in helping him hammer out some especially tricky third act problems.