GibsonвЂ™s insistence that the cast use Yucatan Mayan on screen вЂ“ still spoken today, but only in a tiny area of Central America вЂ“ meant the untrained actors had to spend five weeks learning the language. There are a few things that Gibson used that I advised he shouldnвЂ™t вЂ“ a nose ornament that didnвЂ™t exist, for instance вЂ“ but that is just splitting hairs.вЂ™ вЂIt was like a time machine taking me back to 1500AD. With Gibson determined to make a film very different from the standard Hollywood portrayal of indigenous Americans, Hansen was involved as a consultant from the start. Hansen also campaigns to keep the 525,000-acre Mirador Basin as a national park and save it from logging companies вЂ“ a project to which Gibson has donated ВЈ250,000. Between them they have forced a re-assessment of the rise and fall of Mayan civilisation, which flourished across Central America from 1800 BC until 1500AD. His camp comprises 22 PhD-level researchers and 220 workers. I have major problems with the local cocaine dealers вЂ“ they donвЂ™t want any outsiders to see them growing coca.вЂ™

I have to pay for armed guards on the camp at all times. For decades, all the people there have known is poaching, looting, cocaine dealing and human

вЂSo to keep the camp safe, I employ local militia with automatic weapons. вЂIf things go wrong we could lose everything,вЂ™ he says. Like Indiana Jones, Hansen is based at a Midwestern university (in his case, Idaho), and before leaving Guatemala for home, he has to re-bury much of what he has found, to prevent looting. The real danger in the Mirador Basin is not venomous snakes (though there are plenty of those), it is people. This is one of the last wild areas of the world, and itвЂ™s still very dangerous.вЂ™ вЂHe was fascinated by the subject, and he flew out to the Mirador Basin in a helicopter and stayed with me in the jungle for a few days. вЂI got a phone call from Mel after he had seen a film called Dawn Of The Maya on the National Geographic channel,вЂ™ says Hansen. Natural that Braveheart director Gibson would turn to him to flesh out his vision of the Mayans for his ВЈ40 million epic Apocalypto.ДЇilmed entirely in an ancient Mayan dialect, GibsonвЂ™s follow up to his ВЈ320-million-grossing The Passion Of The Christ offers an unflinching view of a civilisation descending into madness. HeвЂ™s been going there for the past 27 years. Hansen spends six months a year in the Mirador Basin, a national park in Guatemala, excavating the ruins of ancient Mayan cities. He jumps out of the aeroplane before it crashes вЂ“ I stay on board.вЂ™ вЂActually, my life is much more exciting than IndianaвЂ™s. Mel Gibson described me as a sort of Indiana Jones,вЂ™ says Dr Richard Hansen, director of the Mirador Basin Project. His adventures provided the inspiration for Mel Gibson's new ВЈ40 million epic Apocalypto. Dr Richard Hansenme spends six months a year in Guatemala, excavating the ruins of ancient Mayan cities.

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