Mel Gibson Returns To Mexico For A SUMMER VACATION

Last week Veracruz Gov. Fidel Herrera says Mel Gibson will make a movie at a prison in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz next year. Gibson shot his 2006 Apocalypto in that region. So the assumption was Gibson might make a prison movie set in that location or he’s going to make a movie about Ignacio José de Allende y Unzaga, now it turns out that it’s not a period flick but it does have something to do with prison…

According to Variety, Gibson is set to star in the action/drama HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION based on a screenplay he wrote. He’s only written 2 other screenplays in his career (The Passion Of The Christ, Apocalypto)
The story is about “a career criminal who gets caught by Mexican authorities and is sent to a drug- and crime-filled prison, where he learns how to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy”

I was going to say the 9 year old boy is played by Danny Trejo but maybe we could save that for the spoof. Ha!

Gibson won’t be directing HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION, that job will go to Apocalypto‘s fist assistant director Adrian Grunberg and the project will be produced by Apocalypto‘s second assistant director Stacy Perskie. So the old team is back, but their functions have significantly shifted.

Recently Gibson signed on to direct a Viking movie starring DiCaprio, that project will start filming in fall 2010… while HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION will start production in March
I’m sorry, I just want to point out that it’s tough to take this action/drama seriously with a silly title like SUMMER VACATION, cause right now the title sounds like another Griswold family adventure. Gibson needs to change it to something more hardcore and profound, something that fits the story.
Could you imagine if Clint Eastwood‘s new drama Invictus was titled HOW NELSON MANDELA UNITES HIS NATION THROUGH RUGBY or if Zack Snyder‘s 300 was called SPARTANS VS. PERSIANS, I’d be like ‘get the hell outta here!’