Joe Rogan Experience #2254 - Mel Gibson

1. 0:00 – 3:06

   Mel’s back pain, scoliosis, and the hidden toll of chronic discomfort

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. MGMel Gibson0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) All right, we're rolling. What's cracking?

   4. MGMel Gibson0:14

      Oh, man. My back just now, it just-

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      (laughs)

   6. MGMel Gibson0:17

      ... holy shit. It's fantastic.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:19

      What is going on with your back? You, you've, you have, like, you've had back issues in the past, right?

   8. MGMel Gibson0:22

      Oh, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:22

      We talked about that the last time you came on.

   10. MGMel Gibson0:24

       Well, I was born scoliotic, you know?

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:26

       Yeah.

   12. MGMel Gibson0:27

       So it's like a... I bought just, I just bought my own pen along so I could click the shit from it.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       (laughs)

   14. MGMel Gibson0:34

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:34

       Here, take all devices away from me.

   16. MGMel Gibson0:36

       I can't believe, I can't believe you remember. (laughs)

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       (laughs) You remember clicking on the pen? That's hilarious.

   18. MGMel Gibson0:43

       Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm, I'm a fidget, you know, so I, uh, let me take everything off.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:47

       (laughs)

   20. MGMel Gibson0:49

       So... So... (laughs) It's, it's not good. Oh, yeah, uh, born, born slightly scoliotic and then, of course, I banged myself up over the years, you know?

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:57

       Of course. What can you... What, when the... Do they do anything other than surgery for people with scoliosis?

   22. MGMel Gibson1:02

       They do, because I don't wanna do surgery.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       Yeah.

   24. MGMel Gibson1:05

       Once you start opening stuff up and fooling with it-

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:07

       Yeah.

   26. MGMel Gibson1:08

       ... there's no going back, you know?

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:09

       Especially the back.

   28. MGMel Gibson1:10

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       Backs are rough. I'd nev- never met anybody that had, like, fusions or anything where it turned out good.

   30. MGMel Gibson1:15

       No. And, like, Hippocrates, you know, the father of medicine, he said, "In any ailment, look first to the spine." And it was like, he's kinda right.
2. 3:06 – 3:49

   Malibu fires, losing homes, and why California feels untenable

   1. MGMel Gibson3:06

      I'm grateful. And everybody's got their crap, you know? But, uh, like, this morning, for example, I will be surprised if my home is still there.

   2. JRJoe Rogan3:15

      Yeah, we were just talking about that.

   3. MGMel Gibson3:17

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan3:17

      The Palisades is on fire.

   5. MGMel Gibson3:19

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan3:20

      My friend, Tom, Tom Segura, his house is gone.

   7. MGMel Gibson3:22

      Yep. (sighs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan3:23

      His... Where he used to live. He sold it, luckily. And moved in there.

   9. MGMel Gibson3:25

      Yeah, I have a son, he's in the sort of volunteer fire brigade. Milo. I call him the Mayor of Malibu. And he's running around. I asked him, "How's things looking there, Milo?" He says, "Not good, Pops." He says, "Your neighborhood..." And he sent me a, a video of my neighborhood and it's in flames. It looks like an inferno.

   10. JRJoe Rogan3:43

       Yeah.

   11. MGMel Gibson3:43

       So yeah, not good.

   12. JRJoe Rogan3:45

       Do you think this will get you out of California finally?

   13. MGMel Gibson3:47

       Yeah, maybe, (sighs) you know?

   14. JRJoe Rogan3:48

       Where are you gonna go?

3. 3:49 – 6:44

   Costa Rica, regional danger, and a fatalistic view of personal security

   1. MGMel Gibson3:49

      Oh, I don't know. I got a place in Costa Rica. I love it there.

   2. JRJoe Rogan3:52

      Ooh.

   3. MGMel Gibson3:53

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan3:53

      Costa Rica's nice.

   5. MGMel Gibson3:54

      Yeah, I bought there many years ago.

   6. JRJoe Rogan3:56

      Yeah?

   7. MGMel Gibson3:56

      And it's, it's, uh, it's in a real nice spot. It's not too touristy or, you know, dirt roads, so it's-

   8. JRJoe Rogan4:01

      Oh, nice.

   9. MGMel Gibson4:02

      ... off the beaten, off the beaten.

   10. JRJoe Rogan4:04

       Does it feel safe out there?

   11. MGMel Gibson4:06

       Pretty safe. I think, look, it, no place is safe. I mean, you got the Darién down there, you know? And you got-

   12. JRJoe Rogan4:11

       What's that?

   13. MGMel Gibson4:13

       It, it's kind of in the, um... What's the next country down? Panama.

   14. JRJoe Rogan4:16

       Mm-hmm.

   15. MGMel Gibson4:16

       And you, and, and there's this no man's land where the Colombians come through and it's like, you know, all kinds of dirty dealings-

   16. JRJoe Rogan4:23

       Oh.

   17. MGMel Gibson4:23

       ... in the jungle with, you know-

   18. JRJoe Rogan4:24

       Ooh.

   19. MGMel Gibson4:24

       Who knows, you know, drugs and mules and-

   20. JRJoe Rogan4:27

       Yeah.

   21. MGMel Gibson4:27

       You know? (laughs) Yeah. So, um, you know, it can be dangerous and I've heard of danger happening there. You know, you hear about somebody getting chopped up by a machete. And Costa Rica-

   22. JRJoe Rogan4:39

       Yeah.

   23. MGMel Gibson4:40

       ... is actually, it's actually a cool place because it, it never had a culture of death like a lot of the Central American countries did. They have a culture of death, you know? Even Mexico, I mean, they used to, you know, tear people's hearts out and pyramids.

   24. JRJoe Rogan4:55

       Aztecs.

   25. MGMel Gibson4:56

       All that sort of stuff, you know?

   26. JRJoe Rogan4:56

       Yeah.

   27. MGMel Gibson4:57

       Aztecs were like the Romans, the Mayans were like the Greeks, but they all sort of dabbled in some stuff. Um, Costa Rica always had a policy where they... (clears throat) It was like the Switzerland of Central America. They emphasized education and health and everybody's literate and it's, it's kind of interesting in that way. (clears throat) But it deals with its own little troubles.

   28. JRJoe Rogan5:20

       Yeah, well-

   29. MGMel Gibson5:21

       Like every country, you know, corrupt.

   30. JRJoe Rogan5:22

       Espe- anywhere down in that part of the world-
4. 6:44 – 9:37

   Acting crazy to avoid trouble: a mugging story and uncanny luck

   1. MGMel Gibson6:44

      Yeah. I got in a dodgy situation one night and I acted crazy.

   2. JRJoe Rogan6:48

      Yeah?

   3. MGMel Gibson6:49

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan6:49

      What happened?

   5. MGMel Gibson6:50

      If you act crazy, everybody leaves you alone. So-

   6. JRJoe Rogan6:53

      Especially if you are a little crazy.

   7. MGMel Gibson6:55

      A little. (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan6:56

      You know? If they know that-

   9. MGMel Gibson6:57

      Well, you're in a stress mode, so you actually get angry. I, if, if I feel like I'm threatened, I get angry, which is what happens. And then you get really in people's faces, and they think, "This guy's crazy." But all the old cultures thought that. Like, when there were people traveling across the Great Plains to go West, you know, if you acted nuts, they'd leave you alone 'cause they didn't want your evil spirits.

   10. JRJoe Rogan7:19

       Oh.

   11. MGMel Gibson7:20

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan7:20

       So what happened with you?

   13. MGMel Gibson7:22

       Oh, nothing. They left me alone.

   14. JRJoe Rogan7:23

       Well, where was this?

   15. MGMel Gibson7:24

       Oh, man. I was in a bad neighborhood. I, um, was f- it was when I'd first gotten into LA, and I was to go to dinner with Costa-Gavras. He was a Greek director. I, uh, went the wrong way. And it was before they had, you know, phones with like-

   16. JRJoe Rogan7:43

       Right.

   17. MGMel Gibson7:43

       ...you know, all that stuff. So-

   18. JRJoe Rogan7:45

       The Thomas guide.

   19. MGMel Gibson7:46

       It was the Thomas guide, anyway. I wasn't guided well by Thomas. I ended up in the wrong place, and then my muffler fell off, and I was driving a Mercedes, you know, pretty nice sporty car, you know? And I thought, "Uh," and I had the wife in the car and... I pulled into a side street, the sun was going down, and as I got out of the car, I thought, "Oh, I gotta fix this muffler. I can't just drag it." People started coming from houses, and they came up to me and, and, uh, I saw them coming in the rearview mirror, and, uh, I jumped out of the car and got in their face, and I said, "What the fuck do you want?" 'Cause I thought, I felt threatened.

   20. JRJoe Rogan8:25

       Right.

   21. MGMel Gibson8:26

       And, um, and the guy said, "Man, I'm just looking for some money. You got any money?" Saw I was being mugged, and it was (laughs) like, I thought, "I'll think about it when I'm fucking finished," like, you know. (laughs) And I opened the trunk, and this is the weird part, Joe. I, I will never quite understand this. I opened the trunk to see what I could find to help me put the muffler back on, and sitting there, the only two things in the back of the trunk was a pair of wire cutters and a coat hanger. It's exactly what I needed, and I don't know why it was there. That's weird, isn't it?

   22. JRJoe Rogan9:01

       That's very weird. So you-

   23. MGMel Gibson9:02

       Very weird.

   24. JRJoe Rogan9:02

       ...used the coat hanger to wire up your muffler?

   25. MGMel Gibson9:04

       Yep. I cut a piece of wire, wired the muffler up. The whole time, more guys are coming.

   26. JRJoe Rogan9:09

       Jesus Christ.

   27. MGMel Gibson9:09

       And they're standing behind me and I'm feeling like, "Oh." And, um, anyway, I get (clears throat) up, I finish the muffler, slam it, and I'm acting mad and crazy the whole time, and they think, "This guy's nuts." And I get back to the car and my wife gives me a handful of cash, and I thought, "What's this?" She says, "It's just fives and ones. Give it to 'em." (laughs) So I threw it and drove off.

   28. JRJoe Rogan9:29

       (laughs)

   29. MGMel Gibson9:29

       But it was like, it was looking hairy for a minute, and you never know.

   30. JRJoe Rogan9:34

       What year was this?
5. 9:37 – 12:08

   Sponsor break + ‘things are more dangerous now’ and California’s spending priorities

   1. NANarrator9:37

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   2. JRJoe Rogan10:47

      So things are more dangerous now?

   3. MGMel Gibson10:49

      I think they are.

   4. JRJoe Rogan10:49

      Yeah.

   5. MGMel Gibson10:50

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan10:50

      I think so for sure.

   7. MGMel Gibson10:51

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan10:52

      Yeah, we were just talking about the wildfire situation and how crazy it is that they spent $24 billion last year on the homeless.

   9. MGMel Gibson11:01

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan11:02

       And what did they spend on preventing these wildfires?

   11. MGMel Gibson11:05

       Zero.

   12. JRJoe Rogan11:06

       Not so- zi- zip.

   13. MGMel Gibson11:07

       Zip. And in 2019, I think Newsom said, "You know, I'm gonna take care of the forests and maintain the forests and do all that kind of stuff." He didn't do anything.

   14. JRJoe Rogan11:14

       Didn't do anything.

   15. MGMel Gibson11:15

       Nope.

   16. JRJoe Rogan11:15

       And then on top of that, they cut the water off.

   17. MGMel Gibson11:17

       Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's all funny. And then I think all our tax dollars probably went for Gavin's hair gel.

   18. JRJoe Rogan11:23

       (laughs)

   19. MGMel Gibson11:23

       I don't know, but it's like, you know, it's sad. It's like the place is just on fire.

   20. JRJoe Rogan11:27

       Well, the whole state is just so poorly managed.

   21. MGMel Gibson11:30

       (clears throat)

   22. JRJoe Rogan11:30

       It's so conf- it's so frustrating and confusing, and then he gets on TV and pretends like everything's great.

   23. MGMel Gibson11:36

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan11:37

       And I'm, Cal- California's the best, we have the best state, we have the most amazing economy, and like, "You're out of your fucking mind, dude. You've ruined this state."

   25. MGMel Gibson11:45

       It is ruined.

   26. JRJoe Rogan11:45

       Personally ruined it.

   27. MGMel Gibson11:47

       Well, it's the same team that was up in San Francisco.

   28. JRJoe Rogan11:49

       Mm-hmm.

   29. MGMel Gibson11:49

       And then they came down to LA and they're doing what they did in San Francisco and-

   30. JRJoe Rogan11:53

       Yeah.
6. 12:08 – 14:38

   Collapse, ‘Apocalypto,’ and what ancient civilizations reveal about our future

   1. MGMel Gibson12:08

      Yeah. I read a book once by Jared Diamond called Collapse.

   2. JRJoe Rogan12:11

      Mm-hmm.

   3. MGMel Gibson12:11

      You ever read that book?

   4. JRJoe Rogan12:12

      Yeah, yeah.

   5. MGMel Gibson12:13

      Crazy, right? It says all the things you need for a civilization to cave in and collapse, and a lot of the things...... are present. All those earmarks, the precursors of a collapse, they're present in our time. So, it's, it's an interesting observation.

   6. JRJoe Rogan12:29

      Yeah.

   7. MGMel Gibson12:30

      And we're no smarter than our grandparents, I don't think.

   8. JRJoe Rogan12:32

      Well, that ab- brings me to one of my favorite movies of yours, is Apocalypto.

   9. MGMel Gibson12:36

      Oh, yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan12:36

       You know, when the Mayans were r- running things, like, who could have ever thought when they had such an incredibly sophisticated society, unbelievable construction-

   11. MGMel Gibson12:44

       Mm-hmm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan12:44

       ... like, the stuff that they had built, that one day, you would just walk through there, and there's nothing.

   13. MGMel Gibson12:48

       Nothing.

   14. JRJoe Rogan12:49

       Nothing and nobody.

   15. MGMel Gibson12:50

       In fact, there's something, because it's interesting. Somebody was flying by what they thought was a volcano in the '30s, some busboy, and he thought, "Hey, that's, somebody built that. Wait a minute, there's 4" by 8" foot bricks. That's not, that's manmade." And it is literally the biggest pyramid in the world. It's bigger than the ones in Egypt, and it's in Guatemala.

   16. JRJoe Rogan13:13

       Yeah, we talked about that the other day, yeah. It's a recent discovery, right?

   17. MGMel Gibson13:17

       Well, not that recent. I was, um, maybe 20 years ago, I visited.

   18. JRJoe Rogan13:22

       Hmm.

   19. MGMel Gibson13:22

       I went down there with the, uh, with the, uh, archeologist, a guy named Richard Hansen, who's from Idaho or some place. And he's down there with his family. He's been working tirelessly for, like, 30 years, trying to extract this pre-classic city from the jungle. And there's not a bunch of tourists. All the pyramids in Tikal would fit inside the one big pyramid in El Mirador.

   20. JRJoe Rogan13:48

       Really?

   21. MGMel Gibson13:48

       Yeah. It's a monster. And so, that tells you that the pre-classic civilization was bigger and grander and more sophisticated than the civilizations that came after it.

   22. JRJoe Rogan13:59

       Yeah.

   23. MGMel Gibson14:00

       Pretty interesting. (clears throat)

   24. JRJoe Rogan14:01

       Well, it is unbelievable how, like, when, when you, the accounts of, like, people that visited Mexico-

   25. MGMel Gibson14:07

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JRJoe Rogan14:07

       ... and visited the Aztecs, like, what the markets looked like, and how insane it was, and how gorgeous it was.

   27. MGMel Gibson14:12

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan14:12

       And then it just ... (clicks tongue)

   29. MGMel Gibson14:13

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan14:14

       Disease.
7. 14:38 – 21:25

   How ‘Apocalypto’ was conceived: a foot-chase movie, language realism, and modern allegory

   1. JRJoe Rogan14:38

      When, when you're making a movie like Apocalypto, I mean, that's a crazy undertaking. You're making an entire movie where there's no English in it at all.

   2. MGMel Gibson14:45

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan14:45

      And it's a blockbuster.

   4. MGMel Gibson14:47

      Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. It was fun.

   5. JRJoe Rogan14:49

      That's one of the best movies, man. It's a fucking great movie.

   6. MGMel Gibson14:52

      (clicks tongue) Well, because I think it's scary because nobody's speaking your language. And you're looking at indigenous peoples who you ... And because they're not speaking your language, you totally kind of buy it, and you can buy the horror and, and the primal nature of, of the story you want to tell.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:10

      Mm-hmm.

   8. MGMel Gibson15:10

      And s- and really, it's just a series of fears, one after the other. You know, being chased by, you know, scary guys, or, uh, wi- eaten by wild animals, or, you know, hit by, pff, blowgu- you know, blowgun.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:23

      Yeah.

   10. MGMel Gibson15:24

       It's all, like, uh, a series of these things. But I think, (clears throat) basically, what I was doing was trying to talk about our time now, and the civilization that we live in, and how close are we to collapse, and what are the things that lead to collapse, you know? It's environmental stuff. It's, um, human sacrifice.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:44

       Yeah.

   12. MGMel Gibson15:45

       I mean, we do that.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:47

       Kinda.

   14. MGMel Gibson15:47

       We do.

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:48

       Yeah.

   16. MGMel Gibson15:48

       Yeah, we do.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       We just dress it up.

   18. MGMel Gibson15:51

       Yep.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:51

       (clears throat) When you find out medications are killing people, and they keep prescribing them, and they do it for money, that's a kind of sacrifice.

   20. MGMel Gibson15:58

       It is.

   21. JRJoe Rogan15:58

       When you find out that wars are ch- irresponsible.

   22. MGMel Gibson16:01

       They're not just wars.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:02

       Not just.

   24. MGMel Gibson16:03

       No.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:04

       They're, they're for money.

   26. MGMel Gibson16:05

       And we send our young people over there to-

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:07

       Yeah.

   28. MGMel Gibson16:07

       ... to die.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:08

       Mm-hmm.

   30. MGMel Gibson16:09

       Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for not.
8. 21:25 – 23:10

   Lost histories via LIDAR, Amazon cities, and the ‘guns, germs, and steel’ pattern

   1. JRJoe Rogan21:25

      No. Well, there's so many accounts of, you know, people visiting, the... Especially when you get into the Amazon.

   2. MGMel Gibson21:30

      Sure. Oh, I don't know about the Amazon.

   3. JRJoe Rogan21:32

      Oh, my God.

   4. MGMel Gibson21:33

      What's... Tell me about that.

   5. JRJoe Rogan21:34

      Well, first of all, the Amazon used to be filled with people.

   6. MGMel Gibson21:38

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan21:38

      And most of the Amazon is manmade. The jungle in the Amazon is agriculture.

   8. MGMel Gibson21:43

      I didn't know that. Yeah, wow.

   9. JRJoe Rogan21:44

      Yeah.

   10. MGMel Gibson21:44

       Okay.

   11. JRJoe Rogan21:44

       The jungle in the Amazon, they didn't even know this until fairly recently.

   12. MGMel Gibson21:48

       Mm-hmm.

   13. JRJoe Rogan21:49

       And they now know from flying over... They use li- LIDAR, which is this, uh, light-emitting radar.

   14. MGMel Gibson21:55

       Yes, I know, yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan21:55

       So they... So when they use this laser radar shit-

   16. MGMel Gibson21:58

       (clears throat)

   17. JRJoe Rogan21:58

       ... when they fly over it, they're finding all these grids and pathways and cities in the jungle, so the jungle had consumed all these cities. They think there was millions and millions of people living in the Amazon-

   18. MGMel Gibson22:10

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan22:10

       ... and that Europeans came over, (snaps fingers) diseases.

   20. MGMel Gibson22:12

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan22:12

       Everybody dies. Jungle consumes-

   22. MGMel Gibson22:14

       Sure.

   23. JRJoe Rogan22:14

       ... the city. People come back 200 years later looking for it, like the Lost City of Z.

   24. MGMel Gibson22:19

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan22:19

       Like that, uh, that story.

   26. MGMel Gibson22:20

       Right, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan22:20

       They go back to look and there's, there's nothing left.

   28. MGMel Gibson22:23

       Yeah. Guns, germs, and steel.

   29. JRJoe Rogan22:25

       Yeah.

   30. MGMel Gibson22:25

       Yeah.
9. 23:10 – 28:11

   ‘Flight Risk’ and Mel’s directing philosophy: entertain first, even with dark material

   1. JRJoe Rogan23:10

      So, uh, I like Flight Risk. It's a fun movie.

   2. MGMel Gibson23:12

      Oh, it's a hoot. You know, it's a, it's a hoot. I mean, I think the first thing you gotta do with any film, and I think it's incumbent upon all directors, artists to entertain first in some fashion. Even if it's a heavy story, you have to find some, some aspect of it that entertains, and, uh, (sniffs) and I think this, for entertainment's sake, is just fun, and it's quick. I'm, I'm not subjecting you to four hours of, like, watching autism dry.

   3. JRJoe Rogan23:39

      Right. (laughs)

   4. MGMel Gibson23:40

      You know, it's like, it's like, uh, you know, it's 85, 90 minutes, and then you're out.

   5. JRJoe Rogan23:45

      Yeah, and it's a good time.

   6. MGMel Gibson23:46

      Yeah, and Mark is insane.

   7. JRJoe Rogan23:47

      Yeah. Yeah, he's great in it.

   8. MGMel Gibson23:48

      And... Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan23:48

      He plays a good psycho.

   10. MGMel Gibson23:49

       Oh, he's a psychopath. Mark's got a good dark side. There's some, there's some dark stuff there that he was able to draw from, and, uh, every now and then he'd let it out. I can't even repeat some of the stuff he'd say.

   11. JRJoe Rogan24:01

       (laughs)

   12. MGMel Gibson24:01

       In fact, we had to cut most of it out. It was, like, really sick. But, uh, we, we hint at it.

   13. JRJoe Rogan24:08

       Hm.

   14. MGMel Gibson24:09

       Yeah, anyway.

   15. JRJoe Rogan24:10

       When you make a movie now, I mean, you've had such a career-

   16. MGMel Gibson24:13

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan24:13

       When you make a movie now, like, what motivates you at this point in your life?

   18. MGMel Gibson24:16

       Um...

   19. JRJoe Rogan24:17

       Like, how do you, how do you decide, "Let's hit the green light on this one"?

   20. MGMel Gibson24:21

       Yeah, there are things that speak to me, and, uh, and they speak for a l- for a long time. Uh, it's, uh... (clears throat) I remember when I was a, a kid in high school, I was studying English. And they... Well, where did the English language come from? And they talked about, wow, it came from this old guttural German, old Norse that the Vikings brought across. And I always think, "Wow, that's cool, the Vikings," you know? And then immediately I start thinking that somebody should make... I wanna make a film about Vikings and they only speak in old Norse, because if-

   21. NANarrator24:55

       Ooh.

   22. MGMel Gibson24:55

       ... if, if they say, if they say, "Uh," you know, if they speak English all of a sudden-

   23. NANarrator24:59

       Right.

   24. MGMel Gibson25:00

       ... you're not buying it.

   25. NANarrator25:01

       Right, right, right.

   26. MGMel Gibson25:01

       But if they speak in some guttural language-

   27. NANarrator25:03

       Yeah.

   28. MGMel Gibson25:03

       ... you're sort of scared by them, and it's like, "That's scary to me." And then I said to myself, "I'm 17 years old, why am I thinking about making films about Vikings? I don't know anything about making films and not much about Vikings, so why the hell am I even thinking about that?" But that was something that was early on, was like a, a drive, I guess, to sort of depict things like that. So I did films in other languages. We had Mayan and in, in Aramaic, in, in Latin.

   29. NANarrator25:29

       Yes.

   30. MGMel Gibson25:29

       And, you know, so...
10. 28:11 – 39:36

    Faith, ‘The Passion,’ Vatican controversies, and the battle between good and evil

    1. NANarrator28:11

       That was a crazy movie-

    2. MGMel Gibson28:12

       (clears throat)

    3. NANarrator28:13

       ... because, uh, it was a great movie, but-

    4. MGMel Gibson28:15

       Yeah.

    5. NANarrator28:16

       ... it seemed like there was resistance to that movie.

    6. MGMel Gibson28:18

       Oh, yeah. No, there was, uh-

    7. NANarrator28:19

       Which, uh, I, I ve, I thought was very stra-

    8. MGMel Gibson28:22

       (laughs)

    9. NANarrator28:22

       There was, like, Hollywood resistance to that movie. Like, people didn't like that you were making it, it seemed like.

    10. MGMel Gibson28:27

        No. Yeah, there was a lot of, there was a lot of opposition to it. And, uh, I, I, I don't know. It's, uh... I think if you ever hit on that subject matter, you're gonna get people going, because-

    11. NANarrator28:39

        (clears throat) Of course.

    12. MGMel Gibson28:40

        ... it's big subject matter, and it's like, uh, you know? And my contention is, you know, when I was making it, it was like, you're making this film and it, the idea was that we're all responsible for this, that his sacrifice was for all mankind. And that for all, all our ills and all, all the things in our fallen nature, it was a redemption. So, you know? And I believed that, you know? I b- I actually am... You know, I was born into a Catholic family. I'm very Christian in my beliefs, you know? So I do actually believe this stuff to the full. (smacks lips) So depicting that was an honor, but it was also, yeah, you got the, you got the daylights beat out of you for it.

    13. NANarrator29:24

        Yeah, because there's, there's resistance, first of all-

    14. MGMel Gibson29:26

        (clears throat)

    15. NANarrator29:26

        ... from secular Hollywood-

    16. MGMel Gibson29:27

        Mm-hmm.

    17. NANarrator29:28

        ... where, for whatever reason, Christianity is the one religion that w- you're allowed to disparage.

    18. MGMel Gibson29:34

        Yeah.

    19. NANarrator29:34

        Christianity is the one religion where people, th- the, all these progressive, open-minded, leftist people, they'll embrace all these different religions-

    20. MGMel Gibson29:45

        Mm-hmm.

    21. NANarrator29:45

        ... until it comes to Christianity.

    22. MGMel Gibson29:47

        Yeah.

    23. NANarrator29:47

        And for whatever reason, that represents, like, white male, you know, what, whatever it represents, col- colonialism.

    24. MGMel Gibson29:54

        Mm-hmm.

    25. NANarrator29:55

        You know, w- whatever it, you know, whatever it represents, it's negative.

    26. MGMel Gibson29:58

        Yeah, sure. It's gotten a bad rap. And, uh, they, people do feel free to beat up on it.

    27. NANarrator30:03

        Mm-hmm.

    28. MGMel Gibson30:04

        Even I do when I see it's like, you know, when it's not fair-

    29. NANarrator30:08

        Right.

    30. MGMel Gibson30:08

        ... or when I think it's off, you know?
11. 39:36 – 46:46

    PTSD, brain scans, hyperbaric oxygen, and the cost of head trauma in sports and life

    1. MGMel Gibson39:36

       And I found this out, I actually spent a long time in my animal brain, which is a very horrible place to be. And, um...

    2. JRJoe Rogan39:45

       When you say that, what do you mean by you spent a long time in your animal brain?

    3. MGMel Gibson39:48

       You're in flight or fight.

    4. JRJoe Rogan39:50

       Right.

    5. MGMel Gibson39:51

       All the time. You don't even sleep. It's like, really not a good place to be. And if anybody looks at you the wrong way, you wanna bite him.

    6. JRJoe Rogan40:00

       Yeah.

    7. MGMel Gibson40:00

       And sometimes you say and do things that are socially unacceptable. And, you know, I went and got a brain scan by this guy called Daniel Amen who's this brain guy. He's against all psych meds and stuff, but he thinks, like, "Let me have a look at your brain." And he put a radioactive tracer in me.

    8. JRJoe Rogan40:16

       Whoa.

    9. MGMel Gibson40:17

       And, to photograph my brain.

    10. JRJoe Rogan40:19

        Right, MRI, right?

    11. MGMel Gibson40:21

        He works with a lot of... Yeah, he works with a lot of football players and guys-

    12. JRJoe Rogan40:23

        Okay.

    13. MGMel Gibson40:23

        ... who've had brain injuries. Man, it's thirsty in here.

    14. JRJoe Rogan40:25

        (laughs)

    15. MGMel Gibson40:27

        But, um, so he, (laughs) he looked at my brain and he was like... and he opens the file and I'm in there with the guy and he, he looks up and he goes, "Are you okay?"

    16. JRJoe Rogan40:38

        (laughs)

    17. MGMel Gibson40:40

        (laughs) And he go... first, no, first he went like this, "Huh?" And I said, "What?" And he went, "Are you okay?" Like that. And I said, "Yeah, I think so." And he, he came over and he sat next to me, but very slowly and cautiously, and he says, "No, you're not." And I said, "What do you mean?" He says, "You got the worst case of PTSD I have ever seen." And I said, "L- you, you mean, like, even worse than guys in war and shit like that?" And he goes, "Y- yeah." And he says, "You're not okay." (laughs)

    18. JRJoe Rogan41:08

        Jesus Christ. (laughs)

    19. MGMel Gibson41:09

        And, and I was like... and I s-

    20. JRJoe Rogan41:10

        (laughs)

    21. MGMel Gibson41:10

        And I, I start, I started to well up, you know? Like, "No, no I'm not." You know? (laughs)

    22. JRJoe Rogan41:15

        Oh, boy.

    23. MGMel Gibson41:17

        It's like... (laughs) And it was, uh... he had a very miraculous and a great remedy for it, which was to eat a bunch of fish oil, vitamin B complex, and get into a hyperbaric chamber for 40 sessions, but make sure you do at least two or three a week.

    24. JRJoe Rogan41:36

        Oh.

    25. MGMel Gibson41:38

        It fixed my head.

    26. JRJoe Rogan41:39

        Really?

    27. MGMel Gibson41:39

        Yeah, it got me outta that wacky place, you know?

    28. JRJoe Rogan41:42

        So-

    29. MGMel Gibson41:43

        B-

    30. JRJoe Rogan41:43

        ... it was something to do with nutrition and oxygen and...
12. 46:46 – 1:19:28

    Resurrection film plans: scope, Hell/Sheol, de-aging tech, and spiritual preparation

    1. JRJoe Rogan46:46

       So, this, th- this story that you wanna tell about good and evil-

    2. MGMel Gibson46:50

       Mm-hmm.

    3. JRJoe Rogan46:50

       ... like, uh, d- do you have a script, or is it just-

    4. MGMel Gibson46:52

       Oh, yeah.

    5. JRJoe Rogan46:52

       ... a thing in your head? What, what is it?

    6. MGMel Gibson46:54

       Yeah, it's, it's, it's the resurrection story.

    7. JRJoe Rogan46:57

       Oh.

    8. MGMel Gibson46:57

       And it... And... But it's, it's, uh, it's not just... It's not linear, because you can't really... It's hard to understand, so it's gotta be put in a framework where you answer a few other questions as well. And you have to juxtapose the event itself against everything else so that it makes some kind of sense in, in a bigger picture, which is a hard thing to do. And it took my brother and I about... And, and R-... A guy called Randall Wallace, plus my brother and I, took us six, seven years to write it.

    9. JRJoe Rogan47:36

       So, are you doing this with historians as well? Are you trying to make it...

    10. MGMel Gibson47:39

        Yeah.

    11. JRJoe Rogan47:40

        Yeah.

    12. MGMel Gibson47:40

        Yeah, historical stuff. Well, I regard, I regard the Gospels as history. It's verifiable history. Some people say, "Well, it's a fairytale. He never existed." But he did. And there are other accounts, verifiable historical accounts outside the Biblical ones, that also bear this up that, yes, he did exist. And, um, and, and the other aspect of that is that the, all the evangelists, the apostles who went out there, um, every single one of those guys died rather than deny their belief. And nobody dies for a lie, nobody.

    13. JRJoe Rogan48:16

        Right.

    14. MGMel Gibson48:17

        So, that's part of what I'm doing. It's like showing nobody dies for a lie.

    15. JRJoe Rogan48:22

        Yeah. Well, the resurrection is the one that is the most difficult for people to swallow.

    16. MGMel Gibson48:28

        Yes.

    17. JRJoe Rogan48:29

        That, that's the one that requires the most faith.

    18. MGMel Gibson48:31

        The most faith and the most belief, yeah, resurrection.

    19. JRJoe Rogan48:34

        Yeah.

    20. MGMel Gibson48:35

        Who, who g- who gets back up three days later after he gets murdered in public. Um, who gets back up under his own power? Buddha didn't do that shit.

    21. JRJoe Rogan48:45

        Right.

    22. MGMel Gibson48:46

        You know? So...

    23. JRJoe Rogan48:48

        You believe that was a real event?

    24. MGMel Gibson48:50

        Yeah, I do. Yeah.

    25. JRJoe Rogan48:51

        What brought you to that belief? Is it something that you've always had, or is it something you, y- you've studied it, and you've come to this conclusion because of the historical accounts and-

    26. MGMel Gibson49:01

        Yes. Uh, I think as a child, you know, one accepts things on faith because, you know, you're raised by people who are nice to you, and they believe it. And my dad was a pretty smart guy. He was like Mensa smart, you know? Like, real smart.... like, back in 1968, he won Jeopardy!, right? And then-

    27. JRJoe Rogan49:19

        Really?

    28. MGMel Gibson49:20

        And then they brought all the Jeopardy! winners back, and he played all the winners, and he beat all of them, too. So, he had a mind like a steel trap. And his memory was practically photographic. My memory's pornographic, but it's like-

    29. JRJoe Rogan49:33

        (laughs)

    30. MGMel Gibson49:33

        It's like, his, his was like... I don't have that, that kind of mind.
13. 1:19:28 – 1:31:59

    COVID-era distrust, media/pharma incentives, alternative treatments, and ‘evil’ as a theme

    1. JRJoe Rogan1:19:28

       'Cause we're so concerned about other people's opinions of us.

    2. MGMel Gibson1:19:31

       I guess.

Episode duration: 2:20:58