ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION PRESENTS

RELEASE DATE: MAY 31, 2012

Running Time: 95 mins Rating: TBA

Publicity: Icon Film Distribution Natalie Motto: 02 8594 9037 / [email protected]

Images available from: www.image.net

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It’s been a bad day for Driver () and it’s not getting any better. He just made a big haul of millions that would give him a nice summer vacation on easy street. A good idea that went south - literally.

During a high-speed car chase with the US Border Patrol and with a bleeding body in his back seat, Driver flips his car smashing through the border wall, tumbling violently, coming to a stop … in Mexico. Apprehended by the Mexican authorities, he is sent to a hard-core prison where he enters the strange and dangerous world of ‘El Pueblito’. Not an easy place for an outsider such as Driver to survive, unless it’s with the help of someone who knows the ropes – like a 10 year old kid.

2 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

It was known as the worst prison in all of Mexico, referred to as ‘la universidad del crimen’ or the crime university – a nightmare of a place that symbolized violence, corruption and overcrowding. It was called ‘El Pueblito’, a society behind bars where inmates were in control, drugs were openly sold from stores within, and anyone could visit anytime – just as long as they paid off the guards.

Officially named el Centro de Readaptacion Social de la Mesa, El Pueblito was constructed in 1956 in Tijuana to accommodate 2,000 prisoners as a new experiment in corrections – one that went very wrong. Allowing families of those incarcerated to join them in prison and remain close to them would facilitate inmates’ eventual readjustment to the outside world… or so it was thought. Wives, children, girlfriends, entire families would live inside the prison walls, some staying there full time while others came and went at will. Children headed off to school each morning, returning to El Pueblito again in the afternoon. Inside, couples were married; babies were born; old people died.

Alejandra Cuervo, a member of the GET THE GRINGO production team, was hired by the producers prior to the commencement of principal photography to do extensive research on El Pueblito, which also included talking with a number of its ex-inmates for first-hand experiences.

What Cuervo discovered was that El Pueblito, meaning ‘Little Town’, was just that - a crowded shantytown with over 700 ramshackle homes and stores built around the prison’s main courtyard. Shops sold almost anything and everything that was needed, and anything and anybody could be bought for a price.

In El Pueblito there were restaurants and food stands selling tacos, pizza, hamburgers and more, stores renting videos, pay phones, a barbershop, and lawyers and doctors working on the premises - themselves incarcerated for crimes committed. There was also a casa

3 de cambio giving some of the best exchange rates in all of Tijuana; and a kiosk selling stolen goods – so popular, in fact, it attracted a stream of townspeople from outside the prison looking for bargains. Sports teams from outside would also come into El Pueblito to compete with inmate teams in football, basketball and volleyball.

El Pueblito’s prison labs made their own crystal meth for sale both inside and out of the prison walls, and every kind of drug imaginable was openly sold including heroin, cocaine and marijuana. The drugs were all managed by mini cartels within El Pueblito, whose leaders lived a life of relative luxury within the prison walls, basically providing them with free reign to conduct their lucrative business. It was a world where only those prisoners with money and connections could enjoy a more privileged life while other inmates lived in fear and squalor, sleeping in crowded areas and out in the open, and suffering from hunger and other deprivations.

Money was power in El Pueblito. It bought anything and everything especially protection from the violent world within – and from the prison authorities. Being a career criminal took on a whole new meaning with professional inmates committing crimes both inside and out, and being able to retreat back into their protected world of El Pueblito.

The rich and powerful criminal elite of El Pueblito were called ‘Maizerones’ meaning ‘pigs who eat corn’. And they had their own personal security squad – forces armed to the hilt with all sorts of weapons, from 38’s to Uzis. The Maizerones and their security ruled and controlled the prison including the 400 or so prison guards who took bribery to an art form. Everyone had to pay off the guards to have things happen or not happen in El Pueblito, to look the other way in the trafficking of arms and drugs, or for bringing in a new refrigerator or Jacuzzi for the Maizerones duplex homes within.

On August 20, 2002, in the wee hours of the morning, over 2,000 units from the Mexican Army laid siege to El Pueblito clearing out the prisoners and relocating them to the new el Hongo facility. In a few tumultuous hours, El Pueblito became no more. At the time of the siege, there were about 80 U.S. citizen inmates and 600 women, children and other family members living among the nearly 6,000 prisoners - many of those prisoners being organized crime leaders and

4 some of the most dangerous criminals in the Mexican prison system.

Two months were spent filming GET THE GRINGO in the city of , primarily in the shuttered Ignacio Allende Penitentiary which served as the setting for El Pueblito. This was the second time Mel Gibson and his company filmed on location in Veracruz, the first time being 2006 when Gibson directed ‘’.

The Ignacio Allende Penitentiary was built over 105 years ago, and became the model prison for other penal establishments of its kind in Mexico. In January 2010, the remaining 300 prisoners were relocated from Ignacio Allende Penitentiary to more modern facilities, hence why filming was possible inside for GET THE GRINGO.

It was the assignment of Production Designer Bernardo Trujillo to create the realistic sets that would take on the world of El Pueblito inside the Ignacio Allende Penitentiary. And with the creative vision and tireless work of Art Director Jay Aroesty, and Set Decorator Julietta Alvarez, they re-created an astonishingly real world of El Pueblito.

“El Pueblito was a very chaotic place built out of the inspiration and money of the inmates without regulations imposed upon them by the administration inside the prison,” said Production Designer Bernardo Trujillo. “There was a lot of corruption and also a lot of spontaneity going on there” he continues.

The biggest challenge of the Art Department was to create a set for the movie that came from the sort of chaotic mixture of materials, architecture and makeshift structures and homes that the inmates built from their own ideas and manpower in the real El Pueblito. “This created a very specific aesthetic that was not organized at all – and we started with a very organized canvas here at the Allende prison”, says Mr. Trujillo. “Fortunately we had the freedom to tear down walls, to take over empty spaces and to create empty spaces. The construction, art and set dressing departments created every detail that you see” said Mr. Trujillo.

“How would the people and the production design blend together in a believable way without creating such a chaos that the audience would be too distracted” he continued. “It’s a thin line between becoming too stylized and becoming too realistic. You have the find the right spot in the middle. We all saw a very sweaty, a very colourless space

5 even though colour is there – there’s a hint of colour everywhere but it’s sort of faded away. And it’s allowed in certain items but only in little details but not in the overall look of the walls or the wardrobe. And in reality we’re stretching it a little bit because in reality someone could wear a fluorescent color t-shirt and still be in jail but we decided to stay away from those colours; I think it’s too distracting for the audience. We pretty much narrowed it down to a small color palette and started working with those limited colours to try to create chaos out of that. And I think that’s more interesting.”

“And there was humor everywhere in the prison”, reflected Mr. Trujillo. “All the research we’ve done - from Mexican prisons to Latin American prisons to African prisons - one of the things that was repeated over and over was exactly that, how people find humor in every situation and how people find beauty in the hardest situations that you can imagine. And in a way, the Third World is very similar whether you’re in Africa or in Indonesia or Central America or in Mexico – there are so many similarities, especially like in jails, in jail life, in what people ending up doing trying to lead a normal life even in those conditions is actually beautiful. They find a way to make their monotonous life not so monotonous and beautiful and colourful.”

After shooting in the prison, the production then moved to the town of Perote, 90 minutes outside of Puebla and half-way between Veracruz and Mexico City. Salado, a dry lake bed just on the borderline of Perote, was the isolated and barren setting for the high speed car chase and heart-pounding crash through the US-Mexico border wall.

6 ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

ADRIAN GRUNBERG (Director, Co-Screenwriter) is making his feature film directorial debut with GET THE GRINGO on which he also shares co-screenwriting credit with Mel Gibson and Stacy Perskie.

Grunberg previously worked with Mel Gibson as 1st Assistant Director on ‘Apocalypto’ and led the second unit on ‘Edge of Darkness’ which starred Gibson. Among the feature film credits as 1st Assistant Director are; Wall Street 2, The Limits of Control, The Legend of Zorro, Conejo en la Luna, Man on Fire, Master and Commander:

He was raised in Spain by Argentine parents, and the family moved to Mexico where he has lived for the past 15 years.

MEL GIBSON (Producer) was born in upstate New York and moved with his family to Australia when he was 12 years old. Gibson attended the National Institute of Dramatic Arts at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. His early stage appearances include ‘Death of a Salesman’.

Gibson was eventually brought to the attention of director George Miller who cast him in ‘’, the film that first brought him worldwide recognition. This was followed by the title role in ‘Tim’, with Gibson’s portrayal of a handicapped young man winning him an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor.

He was further established as an international star by the two hit sequels to ‘Mad Max’ – ‘The Road Warrior’ and ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ – along with Peter Weir’s ‘Gallipoli’, which saw Gibson awarded a second AFI Award for Best Actor. A few years later, Weir and Gibson again collaborated on ‘The Year of Living Dangerously’.

Gibson made his American film debut in ‘The River’. He also starred in the worldwide record-breaking ‘’ (1, 2, 3 and 4) franchise. Gibson’s other film credits include ‘The Bounty’, ‘Mrs. Sofel’, ‘Tequila Sunrise’, ‘Bird on a Wire’, ‘Air America’ and ‘’. When Gibson starred in ‘Hamlet’, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, the film was the first to be produced by Gibson’s production company Icon

7 Productions. He then starred in the Icon productions ‘Forever Young’ and ‘Maverick’. Gibson made his directorial debut and starred in ‘’, another Icon production.

In 1995, Gibson produced, directed and starred in the critical and box- office success ‘’ which was the recipient of five ® including Best Picture and Best Director after receiving 10 nominations. Gibson also received a Golden Globe® Award for Best Director, as well as a Special Achievement in Filmmaking Award given by the National Board of Review and being honored as the 1996 NATO ShoWest Director of the Year, in addition to being the recipient of the Best Director Award given by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

In 1996 Gibson starred in ‘Ransom’, directed by Ron Howard for Disney’s , for which he received a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama).

In 1997, Gibson starred in the romantic-thriller ‘Conspiracy Theory’ co- starring Julia Roberts and directed by Richard Donner, in 1998, Gibson starred in ‘Lethal Weapon 4’ grossing more than $300 million worldwide, and in 1999, he starred in the hard edge thriller ‘Payback’, an Icon Production based on Donald F. Westlake’s novel ‘The Hunter’.

In 2000, Gibson starred in the emotionally charged adventure ‘The Patriot’ as Benjamin Martin, a reluctant hero who is swept into the American Revolution when war reaches his home and threatens his family. Gibson also lent his voice as the all-American rooster named Rocky in the critically acclaimed DreamWorks SKG animated adventure comedy ‘Chicken Run’. Later that year, Gibson starred in ‘’, a film based on the book We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, telling the story of the first battle between U.S. and Viet Cong troops, followed by M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller ‘Signs’.

In 2004, Gibson produced, co-wrote and directed ‘The Passion of the Christ’ – which was nominated for three Academy Awards®. And in 2006, Gibson produced, co-wrote and directed ‘Apocalypto’ generating three Academy Award® nominations.

Gibson returned to acting in 2009 with ‘Edge of Darkness’, followed by ‘The Beaver’ in 2011.

Following his location filming on GET THE GRINGO, Gibson will once again step behind the lens and direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a yet-

8 untitled Viking project.

BRUCE DAVEY (Producer) is the Academy Award® winning producer whose career began as an accountant and business manager for actors and musicians in his native Sydney, Australia. He met Mel Gibson in a professional capacity in 1980. When Gibson was putting together ‘Hamlet’, Davey moved to L.A. to work with him as his production partner and became Chairman of Icon Productions, the company he founded with Gibson in 1989.

In addition to ‘Hamlet’ (1989), Davey produced the Icon motion pictures ‘Forever Young’ (1992); ‘The Man Without a Face’ (1993); ‘Airborne’ (1993); ‘Maverick’ (1994); ‘Immortal Beloved’ (1994); the multi-Academy Award® winning ‘Braveheart’ (1995) for which Davey won his Oscar(s) as a producer; ‘FairyTale: A True Story’(1997); ‘An Ideal Husband’ (1999); ‘Payback’ (1999); Atom Egoyan’s ‘Felicia’s Journey’ (1999); Wim Wender’s ‘The Million Dollar Hotel’ (2000); ‘What Women Want’ (2000); ‘We Were Soldiers’ (2002); ‘The Singing Detective’ (2003); ‘Paparazzi’ (2004); the Academy Award® nominated ‘The Passion of the Christ’ (2004); ‘Seraphim Falls’ (2005); the Academy Award® nominated ‘Apocalypto’ (2006); and ‘Push’ (2009).

STACY PERSKIE (Producer, Co-Screenwriter) is making his motion picture producing debut on GET THE GRINGO. He previously worked with Mel Gibson on ‘Apocalypto’ on which he served as second assistant director. He also worked in a similar capacity on ‘Jarhead’ and ‘The Legend of Zorro’, and worked second unit on ‘Edge of Darkness’ which also starred Mel Gibson. He has worked in numerous capacities on a range of major Hollywood feature films including ‘Man on Fire’, ‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’, ‘Frida’, ‘Collateral Damage’, ‘Original Sun’, ‘Deep Blue Sea’ and ‘Titanic’.

ANN RUARK (Executive Producer) was producer on ‘The Beaver’, starring Mel Gibson and directed by Jodie Foster, and on ‘Claire Dolan’. She was co-producer on Sam Mendes’ ‘Revolutionary Road’, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s ‘Biutiful’ and ‘Babel’, and Julie Taymor’s ‘Frida’.

BENOIT DEBIE (Director of Photography) made his feature film

9 debut as a cinematographer on Gaspar Noe’s controversial motion picture ‘Irreversible’ which screened at both Sundance and Cannes International Film Festivals.

In 2004 his work on director Lucile Hadzihallovic’s ‘Innocence’ won him the award for Best Cinematography at the Stockholm Film Festival. In 2007, he won an award for Best Cinematography, this time at the Sundance Film Festival for his work on George Ratliff’s ‘Joshua’. In 2009, he worked with Yvan Attal and Shekhar Kapur on ‘New York, I Love You’, and with director Floria Sigismondi on ‘The Runaways’.

BERNARDO TRUJILLIO (Production Designer) worked as production designer on the feature films such as ‘Dias de Gracia’, ‘Down for Life’, and ‘The Air I Breathe’. As an Art Director, his credits include ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’, ‘And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself’ and ‘Frida’.

In 2006, Trujillo was nominated for an ADG Excellence in Production Design Award as Consulting Art Director for the motion picture ‘Babel’. Prior to this in 2004, he won the award as Art Director for his work on ‘And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself’.

ANTONIO PINTO (Composer) received a Best Original Song Golden Globe® nomination in 2008 for ‘Despedida’, co-written with Shakira from the motion picture ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ directed by Mike Newell. Additionally, Antonio also scored ‘Perfect Stranger’ for Sony Pictures, and ‘Lord of War’, directed by Andrew Niccol for Lionsgate. Previously Antonio was celebrated for his brilliant score to the independent box-office hit ‘City of God’ (2003).

ABOUT THE ACTORS

MEL GIBSON (Driver) – as previously listed is ‘About the Producers’

KEVIN HERNANDEZ (Kid) is an up and coming young actor that got his start playing Pepillo Salazar in the Movie of the Week ‘Expecting a

10 Miracle’ where he worked alongside Cheech Marin and Jason Priestley. He then went on to work on an episode of David Mamet’s ‘The Unit’, and as episode of ‘My Name is Earl’.

DOLORES HEREDIA (Kid’s Mother) has worked in film, television and theatre for years. Her first feature film was ‘Pueblo de Madera’ in 1990 with director Juan Antonio de la Riva, followed by such films as Riva’s ‘La Mundanza’ based on the work of the same name by Alex Cox. She also has been seen in director Jose Luis Garcia Agraz’s ‘Desierto Mares’, Jim McBrides’ ‘The Wrong Man’ and ‘Vagabunda’ directed by Alfonso Rosas Priego. In 1995 she played Lucero in the film version ‘Dos Ceimenes’ directed by Roberto Sneider for which she received her first Ariel nomination for Best Actress.

As a producer, Dolores Heredia founded her own company called Por Amor Producciones, and she is working with Daniele Fizi and the Teatro Sunil in Switzerland, as well as collaborating on production of Cirque du Soleil.

DANIEL GIMENEZ CACHO (Javi), who resides in Mexico City, was born in Spain and studied acting, theatre and dance in Mexico and Europe. Since the 1980’s he has built a successful career in film, theatre and television earning a well-deserved place as one of the most important actors in Mexico and Latin America. He is currently starring in the television series ‘Locas de Amor’.

ROBERTO SOSA (Carnal), a native of Mexico City, has over 30 years experience as an actor in film, theatre and television. His acting credits in film include Oliver Stones’ ‘Salvador’, John Sayles ‘Men With Guns’, Tony Scott’s ‘Man on Fire’, Richard Shepard’s ‘The Matador’, as well as ‘Borderland’ and ‘Tres, Tres’.

He was awarded the Ariel Award in 1989 for his work on ‘Lola’, and in 1991 he won the Concha del Plata Award from the Festival de San Sebastian for his role in ‘El Patrullero’.

FERNANDO BECERRIL (Prison Director) returned to Mexico in 1997 after pending 26 years working in France in film, television and

11 theatre. He has appeared in numerous films, among them ‘Arrancame la Visa’, ‘The Mask of Zorro’ and the ‘Legend of Zorro’.

His television credits include the miniseries ‘Zapata’, the Azteca TV series ‘Lo que Callamos las Mujeres’, as well as the HBO series: ‘Fidel’, ‘American Family’ and ‘En el Tiempo de las Mariposas’.

PETER GERETY (Embassy Guy) film credits include ‘Public Enemies’, Clint Eastwood’s ‘The Changeling’, George Clooney’s ‘Leatherheads’, Mike Nichols’ ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’, Spike Lee’s ‘Inside Man’, ‘Syriana’, and ‘War of the Worlds’.

His television credits include ‘Brothers And Sisters’, the Tom Fontana/WB series ‘The Bedford Diaries’, HBO’s ‘The Wire’, ‘Conviction’, ‘Homicide’ and ‘Law and Order’.

PATRICK BAUCHAU (Surgeon), who prior to his role in GET THE GRINGO, appeared in Roland Emmerich’s ‘2012’, ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ and ‘Extraordinary Measures’ with Harrison Ford. In Europe, he recently completed the film ‘Suzanne’ (France), ‘Ladrones’ (Spain), ‘Glenn’ (Belgium), ‘Chrysalis’ (Italy) and Michael Houellebecq’s ‘Possibility of an Island’ (Spain).

Bauchau was also a series regular on HBO’s ‘Carnivale’ and on NBC’s ‘Revelation’ and ABC’s ‘Alias’, and also had guest starring roles among them on ‘Castle’, ‘CSI’, ‘How to Make it in America’, ‘Numbers’, ‘Women’s Murder Club’, ‘House’ and ‘24’.

PETER STORMARE (Frank), the Swedish-born actor/director recently wrapped production on the feature films: ‘Henry’s Crimes’ opposite Keanu Reeves, ‘Janie Jones’ with Abigail Breslin, ‘Dead of Night’ with Brandon Roth, ‘Small Town Murder Scenes’ directed by Ed Gass- Donnelly, and voiced the role of Snufkin in the Swedish 3D animated film ‘Moomins and the Comet Case’ alongside Stellan Skarsgard and Alexander Skarsgard. He has upcoming television guest appearances in ‘Weeds’ and ‘Hawaii Five-O’.

He can also be seen in ‘The Killing Room’ with Chloe Sevigny, ‘Insanitarium’ and ‘Horsemen’. He starred opposite Willem Dafoe in ‘Anamorph’, ‘Premonition’ with Sandra Bullock, ‘Unknown’, ‘The

12 Brothers Grimm’ opposite Matt Damon, ‘Constantine’ with Keanu Reeves, and ‘Birth’ with Nicole Kidman.

Stormare starred as John Abruzzi on the first season of the hit Fox television drama ‘Prison Break’ executive produced by Brett Ratner – and in episodes of ‘Entourage’, ‘CSI’ and ‘Monk’. Other past television credits include the CBS telefilm ‘Hitler: The Rise of Evil’, ‘Watching Ellie’ and guest appearances on ‘Joey’ and ‘Seinfeld’.

Stormare has consistently worked with exceptional directors throughout his career. He appeared in Penny Marshall’s ‘Awakenings’, Steven Spielberg’s ‘Minority Report’ and ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’, the Cohen brothers’ ‘Fargo’ and ‘The Big Lebowski’. Other work includes Lars Van Trier’s ‘Dancer in the Dark’, Lasse Hallstom’s ‘Chocolat’, ’ ‘Million Dollar Hotel’, Jonas Akerlund’s ‘Spun’, John Woo’s ‘Windtalkers’, and Kevin Donovan’s ‘The Tuxedo’. He began his acting career at the Royal National Theatre of Sweden under the direction of the legendary Ingmar Bergman where he performed leading roles in ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’, ‘Miss Julie’, ‘King Lear’ and ‘Hamlet’.

BOB GUNTON (Thomas Kaufman) has played an array of roles in notable productions in theatre, television and film over his career.

His feature film works run the gamut from farce to drama, and he has worked with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors appearing in Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’, John Woo’s ‘Broken Arrow’, and as the Warden in Frank Darrabont’s ‘’. Among his many film appearances are the motion pictures ‘Patch Adams’, ‘Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls’, ‘Dolores Claiborne’, ‘Dead Silence’ and ‘Lincoln Lawyer’.

His many telefilms and miniseries include ‘Mission of the Shark’, ‘Wild Palms’, ‘When Billy Beat Bobby’, ‘Running Mates’, ‘61*’, ‘Sinatra’ (appearing as Tommy Dorsey), ‘Kingfish’ (as FDR), ‘Elvis Meet Nixon’ (as Nixon) and ‘Judas and Jesus’. He also was a series regular on ‘Courthouse’, ‘Greg the Bunny’, ‘Hothouse” and ‘Peacemakers,” and has had recurring roles on ‘Mr. Sterling’, ‘’, ‘E- Ring’, ‘Nip/Tuck’ and ‘24’.

On Broadway, he received Tony Award® nominations for his ‘Sweeney Todd’, and for his portrayal of Juan Peron in ‘’.

13 DEAN NORRIS (Bill) Veteran film and TV actor Dean Norris is currently earning rave reviews for his performance as Hank Schrader in the critically acclaimed and Emmy winning original series ‘Breaking Bad’.

Known for his ability to portray both serious as well as comic roles, Norris has appeared in over 130 films and television shows. His movie credits include ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, ‘Evan Almighty’, ‘The Firm’, ‘The Cell’, ‘Gattaca’, ‘Total Recall’, ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘Lethal Weapon 2’.

On television, Norris has had recurring roles in ‘The West Wing’, ‘Medium’, ‘The Unit’, ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’, ‘American Dreams’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, as well as a regular stint playing W.D. Twitchell in the Sci-Fi original series cult classic ‘Tremors’. His more recent guest roles include ‘True Blood’, ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘Bones’, ‘Saving Grace’, ‘Nip/Tuck’, ‘Dark Blue’ and ‘Lie To Me’.

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