--- title: Mel Gibson's Casting Call description: The star of the film is a movie novice who was only recently working at a Lowe's in Texas and dancing with a Native American... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6907882/mel-gibsons-casting-call/ author: Tim Padgett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2006-03-09T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-22T15:11:50.321Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Mel Gibson's Casting Call og:description: The star of the film is a movie novice who was only recently working at a Lowe's in Texas and dancing with a Native American... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6907882/mel-gibsons-casting-call/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mel Gibson's Casting Call twitter:description: The star of the film is a movie novice who was only recently working at a Lowe's in Texas and dancing with a Native American... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # Mel Gibson's Casting Call > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Tim Padgett](https://time.com/author/tim-padgett/) Mar 9, 2006 5:00 AM UTC by [Tim Padgett](https://time.com/author/tim-padgett/) Mar 9, 2006 5:00 AM UTC The star of the film is a movie novice who was only recently working at a Lowe’s in Texas and dancing with a Native American theater troupe. His leading lady is also a movie first-timer — from Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico. The oldest and youngest actors on the set know no other language but Maya and never saw a tall building before their first make-up call. No, this isn’t the no-name lineup for the newest _Blair Witch Project._ They’re the cast of Mel Gibson’s new feature, _Apocalypto,_ an action epic about the ancient Mayas currently filming in southern Mexico. Their obscurity should come as little surprise. Just as he did in _The Passion of The Christ,_ Gibson is using relatively unknown actors in the film (in which the actors speak only in Yucatán Maya), many of whom either are Mayas or are descendants of other New World tribes. “It brings an honesty and a valuable reality to what were doing,” Gibson tells TIME, which was given the first exclusive look at the _Apocalypto_ production for an upcoming story in the magazine. “These characters have to be utterly believable as pre-Columbian Mesoamericans.” Gibson is quick to note that _Apocalypto_ is less dependent on dialogue than most movies, and as a result, he looked for people who could express as much with their faces and actions as they do with their lines. Newcomer Rudy Youngblood, 25, a movie-star handsome Comanche and Cree Indian who plays the _Apocalypto_ hero named Jaguar Paw, grew up in Texas and had been a grass dancer with the Native American Dance Theater before Gibson found him last year. “As a dancer, I know how to tell a story with my eyes and my body, which is the kind of acting this film requires most,” says Youngblood. “But I also have ancestors who fought at Wounded Knee and Little Big Horn, so it’s not hard to use my Native American heritage for this role. Mel’s been teaching me a lot about how to go back and find emotional things in my life and family to draw on.” Since a good chunk of _Apocalypto_ involves a wild and terrifying foot chase through the Mexican rainforest, Gibson has also put Youngblood through a brutal action-adventure wringer, with the rookie doing many of his own stunts. “I’m amazed at how much Rudy’s running reminds me of a cat,” says Gibson. “He’s the track star we needed for this picture.” Raoul Trujillo, a veteran Native American film actor, is perhaps the only _Apocalypto_ actor who may be recognizable to U.S. audiences (he appeared in last year’s _The New World_). He says he jumped at the chance to be part of Gibson’s Maya adventure. “A story like this has never been done before,” says Trujillo, who plays a sinister Maya warrior named Zero Wolf. “Mel is fearless that way.” Mayra Sérbulo, a Mexican Zapotec Indian who has been nominated this year for an Ariel (Mexico’s Oscar) as best supporting actress, agrees. “People do have to remember that this is action fiction, not a Maya documentary,” she warns. “But I’m frankly surprised and excited about the care they’re taking to portray indigenous Mexicans.” In the end, says Gibson, as a Maya dialogue coach from a small town in the Yucatan stands behind his director’s chair, he’s hoping _Apocalypto,_ set for release this summer, will make Maya language and history as “cool again” as _The Passion of the Christ_ made The New Testament. Without the religious controversies that swirled around that film, of course. But even if Gibson fails to make Maya hip, he’s almost certain to make some unknown actors very famous. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6907882/mel-gibsons-casting-call/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6907882/mel-gibsons-casting-call/"},"headline":"Mel Gibson's Casting Call","datePublished":"2006-03-09T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-22T15:11:50.321Z","description":"The star of the film is a movie novice who was only recently working at a Lowe's in Texas and dancing with a Native American...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6907882/mel-gibsons-casting-call/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tim Padgett","url":"https://time.com/author/tim-padgett/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6907882/mel-gibsons-casting-call/","name":"Mel Gibson's Casting Call"}}]}] ```