'Forgive me, America. I have sinned'

Mel Gibson
'He didn't cry'... Mel Gibson's mea culpa is seen as neither sincere nor comprehensive. Photograph: Corrado Giambalvo/AP

The release of Mel Gibson's epic Mayan adventure, Apocalypto, turns the page in a saga that has gripped Hollywood watchers for six months. Since last July, when Gibson was arrested for drink driving in Malibu and embarked on an anti-semitic tirade, Tinseltown has been buzzing about what will become of its latest imperilled A-lister. Thus far, things aren't looking great for Gibson. As of New Year's Day, Apocalypto had grossed a dismal $44m (£22m) since opening in the US in December, and now the film-maker's fate hinges on the response of the highly influential international markets, led by the UK. Hollywood can forgive those who break society's rules, but those who fail at the box office are judged more harshly.

  1. Apocalypto
  2. Production year: 2006
  3. Country: USA
  4. Cert (UK): 18
  5. Runtime: 138 mins
  6. Directors: Mel Gibson
  8. More on this film

Stars have always transgressed, but their behaviour rarely stops them getting a second chance. Hugh Grant followed up his vehicular indiscretion with Hollywood prostitute Divine Brown in June 1995 by becoming a global superstar in Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary. Halle Berry fled the scene after she injured another driver by ploughing her rented Chevrolet Blazer into a car in early 2000, and lo and behold, two years later, she was holding aloft the Oscar for Monster's Ball. Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr, Roman Polanski and a host of celluloid deities have endangered their careers through reckless or criminal antics and yet they have returned stronger than ever.

For those of us who aren't household names, getting thrown into prison on a drug conviction, fleeing the country after a conviction for a sex offence, or being branded a money-sucking liability by our boss would generally render us unemployable. But it's different with celebrities: fans love them too much to let them go, and studio chiefs are quick to turn a blind eye when there's money to be made.

As Gibson knows only too well, when it comes to salvaging careers, the untold heroes in Hollywood are the publicists. Over the years, they have forged an unwritten set of crisis-management guidelines that begin and end with this: the apology is king. "The bottom line is everybody, no matter who you are, needs to apologise for bad behaviour," says David, a veteran publicist who, like others interviewed for this article, preferred not to use his real name. "We're willing to forgive those we love. We're emotionally invested in stars, and it's difficult to break up with them. Knowing this, you have to tailor the apology to suit the personality. So, if I'm representing Hugh Grant, I'm going to tell him to be foppish and he goes on television and acts like a fop, and the situation comes under control."

Publicists regard Grant's appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight Show following his Sunset Strip shenanigans as the textbook mea culpa. "He wasted no time and got out in front of the issue," says Larry, another seasoned publicist. "He went on the show, said he'd done a stupid thing and was sorry, apologised to Liz Hurley, his girlfriend of the time, and showed everyone he was a guy with a terrific sense of humour. It was simple, straightforward and charming." Henceforth, the rising British star would enjoy the undying support of American audiences.

But the apology has to be heartfelt. "If you come from an honest place and you 'fess up in an endearing kind of way and you're sincere, you can get away with it," Sarah, a senior publicist at one of Hollywood's biggest public-relations companies, tells me. "If you're truly remorseful, it will show." There is the distinct feeling among Hollywood's publicity community that Gibson was neither sincere nor comprehensive when he discussed his behaviour on air last year with Diane Sawyer, the doyenne of US television interviews. "That wasn't a good apology," Howard Bragman, a longtime crisis manager and Hollywood publicity consultant, says. "This process should be cathartic, and Mel Gibson didn't have that moment we needed. He didn't cry."

The lack of tears will not endear Gibson to the thousands of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who vote for the Oscars. Apocalypto may have elicited plenty of enthusiastic reviews from American critics, but Bragman thinks it's unlikely to earn nominations. "The Academy can be very forgiving, but I don't think they will be in this case, because anti-semitism is one of the things that hits you very hard. The suspicion was already out there that Gibson was anti-semitic before this incident, and that could well be reflected in voters' sentiments this season."

Getting the timing of the apology right is crucial ("Be the first to speak on it and get out there fast," Larry tells me), and humour helps. "When somebody can laugh at themselves and mix in the right measure of humour with humility, it can be a winning combination," Sarah says, adding, "Hugh Grant did it to perfection and Robert Downey Jr has often been self-deprecating about his indiscretions, and people warm to that."

Russell Crowe, not a man renowned for his sense of humour, illustrates another key element in the fallen idol's road to redemption: keep the apology consistent. The Australian Oscar winner did not do that when he appeared on two TV shows. First, he went on David Letterman's show last summer to atone for throwing a telephone at a hotel concierge, but his line had changed when he revisited the subject on 60 Minutes towards the end of the year. "He seemed uneasy about apologising," David says. "When Letterman asked him if he had an anger-management issue he said he did, but people didn't buy it because he later went on 60 Minutes and said he was OK with his temper. Basically, he was performing on Letterman and seemed markedly less contrite on 60 Minutes, by which time he was promoting A Good Year, his first movie since pleading guilty to third-degree assault. The whole thing was a mistake because he's not a natural romantic-comedy actor, people didn't buy into it and the movie flopped in the US.

"Some people firmly believe the best thing is to do nothing," David continues. "If your client's going through a nasty divorce, say, you advise them to lie low and hope it goes away. If you're a charming person, you can go on a talk show and apologise for a mistake. But if you're Tom Cruise and you undergo meltdown on a talk show [the notorious Oprah couch-jumping incident of May 2005] and follow that up by attacking Brooke Shields for taking antidepressant drugs, and go on another show and melt down even further [lecturing interviewer Matt Lauer about the history of psychiatry], perhaps it's best to keep out of sight a bit. There's no universal prescription - it depends on who you are."

For Cruise, the best policy was to lie low. "It's no coincidence that all this nonsense happened after he parted company with Pat Kingsley," Larry says, referring to the star's formidable former publicist of 14 years. "She was the best at all this and, without her, he allowed himself to step into it time and time again." Things got worse for Cruise before they got better. Mission: Impossible III opened last summer and was the least profitable film in the 10-year franchise, whereupon a disgruntled Sumner Redstone, head of Paramount parent company Viacom, refused to renew the star's studio deal.

But Cruise has bounced back. Under the guidance of Paul Bloch at leading Hollywood publicity firm Rogers & Cowan, he has avoided couches, apologised to Shields (she attended his recent wedding to Katie Holmes in Italy), toned down the pro-Scientology outbursts and, not so long ago, was named co-head of United Artists. "Tom Cruise has done an awesome job," Bragman says. "When you take over a studio, it's kind of hard to say you're not doing well."

A hierarchy of sorts exists among the range of offences that can befoul a celebrity's curriculum vitae. The general consensus is that drink and drug abuse and car accidents are eminently forgivable, so long as no one else is badly hurt. No one begrudges Robert Downey Jr his escape from the abyss since his predilection for substance abuse harmed himself and himself alone, while Halle Berry earned plus points for surrendering to the police following her automotive folly. Besides, the logic goes, these things can happen to all of us. When Winona Ryder stole thousands of dollars' worth of clothing from a Beverly Hills shop, people saw she was troubled and just felt sorry for her.

Even in puritanical America, sexual mores have evolved over the years, and indiscretions are tolerated. "People aren't as judgmental any more," Bragman says. "We've come a long way since Ingrid Bergman ran off with Roberto Rossellini and had a child out of wedlock in 1950. And even she bounced back and won the Oscar for Anastasia several years later." The more severe cases, such as Polanski's statutory-rape conviction for sex with a minor, tend to lose impact after a period of low- key behaviour.

The big no-no remains racism, as the simmering antipathy towards Gibson in many industry circles and the recent backlash against former Seinfeld comedian Michael Richards demonstrate. Prejudice remains the open wound in a country that continues to struggle with the notion of equality. As David says: "If Gibson can come back from driving a car at 90mph with an open bottle of tequila, getting out of the car and throwing epithets at Jews by making a few apologies, then you can do pretty much anything short of murder and get away with it."

· Apocalypto opens Jan 5

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