There was a lot of heat on the set of Peter Weir's politically-chargedromance, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), and it wasn't just the weather. The teaming of Mel Gibsonand Sigourney Weaver, both of whom appear at their sleekest and sexiest, was apositive form of friction. But there was also the unwanted attention of anangry group of Muslims who incorrectly assumed the movie's location shoot inManila (standing in for Indonesia) was anti-Islamic. Weir had to finish thepicture in Australia when his increasingly jumpy cast and crew began to feelthey were living dangerously themselves.

Gibson stars as Guy Hamilton, an Australian journalist who's covering the1965 coup against Indonesia's Sukarno government. Hamilton navigatescrowded streets that bustle with marchers singing songs of protest, whilewhite Westerners wrestle the hard truths of life in a fracturing politicalsystem. Also on hand are Jill Bryant (Weaver), a beautiful woman who worksfor the British embassy, and Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt), astreet-smart photographer who initiates a romance between Hamilton andBryant...both of whom may be the object of his affections. Kwan, who happens to be a dwarf, also serves as the film's occasional narrator.

Hunt, of course, was cast considerably against type when she won the role of thelovelorn Kwan. But her work was startling enough to merit an Academy Awardfor Best Supporting Actress. Even she didn't know if she was ready for sucha challenging role - at one point, she lobbied to have the characterre-written as a woman. Weir had originally cast an Australian man as Kwan,but grew disenchanted with the actor in rehearsals. He was floored byHunt's audition while searching for a replacement, and immediately hiredher.

Though it would establish her ongoing career in motion pictures, Hunt, whowas already an accomplished stage actress, suffered emotionally during theshoot. "I once ordered room service in the hotel," she later remembered,"and when the bellboy kept saying 'Yes sir, yes sir,' I dissolved intotears. That also happened once in a restaurant."

Even that was a minor problem, though, when stacked against the ominousletters and phone calls that the film company received from outragedfundamentalists. At one point, 10,000 Filipinos filled the Muslim quarterof Manila, muttering curses and shouting threats at the cast and crew.There was even a bomb threat. Gibson remembers receiving a particularlymenacing phone call, during which the caller kept asking, "Are you a braveand courageous man, Mr. Gibson?" The actors soon began traveling withbodyguards in tow.

This unexpected real-life situation - which was the result of a complexmisunderstanding about why the movie was shooting in Manila rather thanIndonesia - was eerily like one of Weir's own films. As he said in a 1979Washington Post interview: "Everything is built on the real and theordinary, but there's chaos underneath. We try to protect ourselves fromthe mystery, but it's all around us, just waiting to reveal itself andterrorize us. The ironic thing about movies is that you can use this highlysophisticated technology to restore the sense of mystery that anindustrialized urban society tends to obscure."

Weir ultimately had enough. "I think the threat was very real," he latersaid. "I received one of the phone calls and read one of the letters. Bothcombined religious fanaticism with the kind of unpredictability andconviction we saw (during the U.S. hostage crisis) in Iran. I was scared."The cast and crew's evacuation came swiftly, and, for most, not a moment toosoon. "We were having lunch," Weaver said, "and a representative of theproducer came over and said in a solemn voice, 'It's now 2 pm. By 2:20we'll be having a meeting, and by 4 you'll be on a plane out of here.' Ithrew the important things in a suitcase and ran out the door."

Directed by: Peter Weir
Producer: James McElroy
Screenplay: C.J. Koch, Peter Weir, and David Williamson
Editing: William Anderson
Cinematography: Russell Boyd
Art Direction: Herbert Pinter
Music: Maurice Jarre
Costume Design: Terry Ryan
Principal Cast: Mel Gibson (Guy Hamilton), Sigourney Weaver (Jill Bryant),Linda Hunt (Billy Kwan), Michael Murphy (Pete Curtis), Bembol Roco (Kumar),Domingo Landicho (Hortono), Hermino De Guzman (Immigration Officer), NoelFerrier (Wally O'Sullivan), Paul Sonkkila (Kevin Condon), Ali Nur (Ali).
C-115m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.

by Paul Tatara