At a Glance

MEL GIBSON AND SAM NEILL STAR IN A TRUE STORY OF WARTIME COURAGE Based on real events that took place during the final months of World War II, and made with the assistance and cooperation of officers of the Z Special Forces Association of New South Wales and the First Australian Submarine Squadron, 1 Commando Company, ATTACK FORCE Z stars Mel Gibson (Signs; We Were Soldiers), Sam Neill (Wimbledon; Jurassic Park III), Sylvia Chang (The Red Violin; Eat Drink Man Woman) and John Phillip Law (The Cassandra Crossing) in an action-packed tale of wartime courage and adventure. On 20th March 2006, ATTACK FORCE Z will be released on DVD for the first time ever in its original widescreen version, digitally remastered and featuring brand-new interviews with the film's cast members and producer. Gibson, Neill and Law star as members of a small international team of elite Special Forces commandos – Attack Force Z – sent on a deadly search and rescue mission to a remote South Pacific island occupied by Japanese troops. Their assignment involves the recovery of a passenger believed to have been on board an Allied plane that has reportedly crash-landed in the island's dense jungle region. Possessing highly sensitive information regarding the Japanese military activities, the passenger could prove to be the key to ending the war quickly and in the Allies' favour. But what should be a straightforward "go in, get out, leave no trace" stealth mission for the commandos begins to spin out of control when the enemy troops are alerted to their presence on the island. Outnumbered and on the run, the members of Attack Force Z are forced to seek the help of the local villagers, led by a Chinese resistance fighter and his beautiful daughter. Due to circumstances reminiscent of the troubles faced by Francis Ford Coppola during the making of Apocalypse Now!, the filming of ATTACK FORCE Z proved to be almost dramatic and exciting as the finished film. Conceptual difficulties arose when, for financial reasons, the filming location was shifted from South East Asia, where the events depicted actually took place, to Taiwan in North East Asia. This in turn created cultural and practical problems resulting from the mostly Australian team of filmmakers and actors having to work with a non-English-speaking Chinese crew. A major blow occurred when, due to creative differences, the original director, Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American; Patriot Games), left the project the day before filming, leaving newly-appointed director Tim Burstall (Kangaroo) just hours to prepare for the first day of filming. Further trouble came from the lead actors themselves when Mel Gibson and Sam Neill, respectively riding the success of Mad Max and My Brilliant Career, discovered that the relatively unknown American lead, John Phillip Law, was to be given top-billing and was being paid ten times more than them to appear in the film. The resulting film, however, belies any of the difficulties experienced during the production. A thrilling and uncompromising war movie, ATTACK FORCE Z also proved to be the perfect showcase for Mel Gibson, who, when not busy unloading his machine gun into the Japanese hordes, turns in the kind of intense and emotionally honest performance that would later make him an international superstar.