INTERVIEW WITH MEL GIBLSON

About 1 1/2 week ago Touchstone held a 2 day press junket at the Essex House Hotel in NYC for the upcoming sci-fi thriller SIGNS. I got to tell ya, I saw this film and to be honest, I believe SIGNS is the best suspense film to come along in a very long time. Now who can say no to Mr. MAD MAX himself, Mel Gibson. So I did what any other person would do, I attended the press conference and here is what Mel had to say.

Was this a different experience for you as an actor working with a director [M. Night Shyamalan] where he would push you to do other things?

MEL: Not totally, he is kind of like the truth police so he [Shyamalan] is very honest. Like if he doesn't get exactly what he wants, he'll come and tell you. And a couple of times he got stuff that he hadn't necessary planed for, but he said, "you know I don't mind that either, that's good". But he is very into precision and any extraneous movement that might arise from either bad habits or discomfort in a situation from myself he'll be quick to pounce on. It was mainly just centering me

Can you give us an example of something that Shyamalan did?

MEL: He'll be like "hey you moved your left eyebrow" and I'll be like "WHAT?" It was just some weird little close up body language thing that was like not happening for him. Hey his vision, he's script, good script, he's a great director. I think artistic respect is to tell each other the truth and he'd just come in and say "not like that, like this" and he'd explain it, he wouldn't give you line readings, he's a good communicator.

M. Night Shyamalan is a guy who has very set ideas about what moves an audience, how passionate did your discussions go between what you think scares an audience and his vision?

MEL: Well we spoke a lot, there was a lot of analysis done on you know? The kind of story we were trying to tell, after all if you're his quarterback he's going to tell you the game plan you know? So it was necessarily very much discussion about all aspects of what he wanted from the film. I'd even ask him about shots "hey want are your trying to do with it?" It was mainly about me equating myself with his vision. Which…that's what I'm paid to do, and execute it the way he would have it.

Which ones do you believe in? Signs, miracles, luck or pure coincidence. Do you think everything happens for a reason?

MEL: I think there've been many experiences in my life where an unexplainable also where you couldn't rule out the idea of something supernatural or other worldly kind of influence playing a part in the road you choose or enforcing you to go that way. So I don't really think it's about luck, I think most things are pre-ordained, but I've always thought that so that's okay.

How would you describe the SIGNS?

MEL: It's hard to give it a log line. He [Shyamalan] explained to me, the first way he explained it and it was really from my characters point of view. He said "it's about a man who loses his faith and gets it back again" and I said, "Oh that sounds pretty simple" but the mechanizations of the things that occur in order for that to happen are fairly complex. Even though he approached it in a simple way, it was still complex. It's like a thriller, I think? A sci-fi thriller, with a very human element and the human element is oddly enough the spiritual element because I think all of us have some instinctive thing within us that kind of what's to reach for a higher place, that has a suspicion that there is a nature and a higher realm outside ourselves that exists and perhaps influences who we are and why were here and we all ask that question "why the hell I'm I here?" So the actual human nature of it is the questioning of that, which I think he [Shyamalan] gave us in a big dose here. It's an unusual film; I think it's a refreshing look at sci-fi thriller just a refreshing look at it through his eyes.

When asked if his perceptions of faith were altered while making this movie, where they changed at all?

MEL: No not necessarily. Actually in the doing of it you certainly do ask yourself questions, one has to. I mean if you're going to portray a situation that is potentially real or that you have to imagine is real, you have to dive into your own brain box about what do you believe you know? I mean how does the story affect you? Does it gel for you? When I read the script, I really liked it a lot. I felt that it said things to ME on an emotional level that very scripts do, so I thought, "Lets go to work".

What was it like working with the kids in this film? They were really good.

MEL: Yeah terrific kids. The kids are getting smarter every year; I don't know they must be feeding them on something else. You got to pull your socks up to keep up with them. W.C. Fields worked well with kids. I find it a similar half way approach kind of works. I think we have outtakes of me beating up Abby [Abigail Breslin] and she took the hits well. (Laughter in the room)

What is your greatest fear?

MEL: I have many, as do we all. From being afraid you run out of cream for your Corn Flakes right? Right after someone chopping your dick off [huge outburst of laughter] I don't know. There are many fears, but I think…Actually knowledge dispels fear; I believe that to be true. It's really the expectations of your id that is scary. Once you're kind of in the middle of a bad situation your not that afraid, I mean you just have to react. It's only in retrospect or in expectation of what might be, and its usually fear of an unknown kind of thing. So if you know as I say "knowledge" you can dispel it. I don't know, fear is a funny thing. We all suffer from it. I try not to; I try to live right now.

Can you talk about any practical jokes that you did while doing SIGNS?

MEL: There weren't to many big practical jokes, and Joaquin [Phoenix] was right for practical jokes but I had mercy on him.

He [Joaquin] had mentioned something about finding Vaseline on his locker.

MEL: HAHAHA [outburst of laughter] I don't remember a thing about it. What does he mean? I think that was already there [laughing], was it on his door handle?

And he was locked up in the closet.

MEL: Oh! That was funny. He was in a closet and he was doing his take and everybody just turned off the lights and left the set. It was amazing because he knew what had happen from within the closet. He was adamant that he was going to win and that he wasn't coming out. He was not coming out until we all came back and acknowledged that he was still in there. He just sat in there and there is a funny audio tape of the things he said for about 15 minutes while he sat in there. He said, "I know you're out there" and talking about getting his lawyers [laughter in the room]. It was pretty funny, but he actually won. He won. I had to admire his tenacity.

Can you give us an update on FAHRENHEIT 451 and THE PRISONER?

MEL: The Prisoner, that's not going to happen, that's a script I read once and its alright you know? More of the same, I don't know. Fahrenheit I was very passionate about, I actually help develop the script with a guy called Terry Hayes and that's on a back burner still. I think it's prohibitively expensive you know? It makes the studios loose their hair or at least the studio executives loose their hair. When you look at the budget on it, it's like "WHAT!" And I agree with them, its scary. It's a great deal of responsibility to sort of play with that much of a budget, so were trying to find ways to like do it that's not so expensive. Although this business of filmmaking gets more and more expensive every year.

And MAD MAX 4 would it be interesting to revisit?

MEL: Yeah, it might be. I mean George [Miller] is somebody I've always wanted to work with again. I wouldn't miss that opportunity; I'd even work with him if we were just doing a shaving Ad you know?

Do you plan on directing again?

MEL: Yes I do [moment of silence with a little laughter]

What is it? Do you know?

MEL: That's a funny question, haha [outburst of laughter]. It's a secret; it's an industrial espionage rife and I just want to go off and do it without making a big grandstand about it. I mean there is kind of hubris attached to making to much noise. I just want to go off and do it. Because I might come home with a pile of nothing. So I don't want to make to many song and dance you know? Pride before fall is that it.

Are there elements of filmmaking that you picked up from Shyamalan that you could you could use on future projects?

MEL: Sure, but everyone I've worked with I've watched. I mean that's been my film school. Always at the hub of activity around the camera and always asking the directors like a million questions, probably I was annoying. I wasn't a trailer kind of hanger outer, I'll get out on the set and just watch what was happening and ask a lot of questions and I asked Night [Shyamalan] quite a few questions about why and how and where and why he was doing what he was doing and all this kind of stuff, and he was very generous and he explained a lot of things to me. Art is a shared kind of…and it shouldn't have boundaries you know? Those who are really… have a good grasp of it are usually the same ones who are able to communicate what it is that they are doing and how they go about getting an effect. Hey man, he is just another part of my education, which I'm grateful for. George Miller, Peter Weir and all these other great directors I've worked with, I'm very fortunate to have worked with such great people and I steal for all of them.

SIGNS OPENS NATIONWIDE ON AUG 2, 2002