From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Mel Gibson (“The Passion of the Christ,” “Braveheart”) comes APOCALYPTO: a heart-stopping, mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once-great Mayan civilization. When his idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, a man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family, he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Visceral, thrilling and boldly thought-provoking, APOCALYPTO brings to life, through Gibson’s ambitious creative vision, a world from the ancient past hereto never before seen on the modern screen that speaks powerfully to our lives today.

Shot on location in Catemaco—in one of the last remaining tracts of rainforests left in Mexico—and in Veracruz, with a cast made up entirely of indigenous peoples from the Americas, APOCALYPTO is directed by Mel Gibson, produced by Gibson and Bruce Davey and written by Gibson and Farhad Safinia, who co-produces. The executive producers are Ned Dowd and Vicki Christianson.

The behind-the-scenes team, who spent intense months shooting in the jungle and recreating a spectacular Mayan kingdom of soaring pyramids and mysterious temples, includes Academy Award®-winning director of photography Dean Semler (“Dances With Wolves”), two-time Academy Award®-nominated production designer Tom Sanders (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Dracula,” “Braveheart”), two-time Oscar®-nominated film editor John Wright (“Speed,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “The Passion of the Christ”) and Oscar®-winning composer and multiple Academy Award® nominee James Horner (“Titanic,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “House of Sand and Fog,” the forthcoming “The Good Shepherd”).

A LEGEND THAT BEGINS AS A CIVILIZATION ENDS:
MEL GIBSON TAKES ON APOCALYPTO

“Beware the blackness of the day. Beware the man who brings the jaguar… for he will lead you to your end.”
—Oracle Girl, APOCALYPTO

1. PRODUCTION INFORMATION
2. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
3. CASTING MAYA IN THE MODERN WORLD
4. LEARNING TO SPEAK YUCATEC MAYA
5. THE PRODUCTION OF APOCALYPTO
6. WHO WERE THE MAYA?
7. WHO WERE THE MAYA AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM?
8. TIMELINE OF THE MAYA
9. GLOSSARY OF MAYAN PHRASES