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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There's also an environmental message here.
MEL GIBSON: I'm not a tree hugger — some people get really obsessed with it — but I love the rain forests and would hate to see them destroyed.
The politics in Apocalypto might surprise a lot of folks. You're not exactly known as a Hollywood lefty. You're known as a social conservative.
I try.
Some people are already accusing you of making a ''liberal'' film to get back into the good graces of Hollywood.
It's not that at all. I've always been very independent about the way I see things. Everyone always presumes I'm a Republican. I'm not. I couldn't vote for either one of those guys in the last election. I looked at the pair of them and was like, What do you want to do — get punched or get kicked? It was a terrible choice to have to make. So I found somebody else on the ballot who was an independent who I liked the sound of. I can't even remember his name.
How is your relationship with Hollywood these days? Do you feel you've done enough apologizing for your anti-Semitic remarks?
Those were the ravings of an inebriated, angry person. I don't know. I think publicly I have done enough. The process continues. The people I know in this town come up to me and say, ''What the f--- is wrong with you?'' I go, ''Sorry.'' They get it. It's not a big thing. It's like, ''Okay, so when are we going to work together again?'' The people who don't know me, if I've offended them, I'm sorry.
People won't really refuse to work with you?
No, people aren't like that. Those are just headlines: Mel Ostracized by Hollywood! Hollywood is what you make it. There is no great pooh-bah up there saying, ''Go! You are condemned!''
What about Disney? Was there any discussion of pushing back the release date of Apocalypto because of the scandal?
I don't know. They didn't tell me if they discussed it. I called [president of production] Oren Aviv and he was business as usual. But even he's suffered a little. He's been called a collaborator.
NEXT PAGE: Does Gibson consider himself anti-Semitic?
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