I am waiting for Mel Gibson. I am waiting in his office. I’ve been here several times before, but I’m not sure what Mel I am going to get. Years ago, I might have got the Mel who came in and turned me upside down just because he could. The Mel who liked to present freeze-dried rats to female co-stars to see if they’d squeal. I might get the on-edge Mel, pulling his hair, tap-tapping with his feet, gnawing on his fingers and sucking the life out of a cigarette.

I am in the same room, the conference room, where I saw one of the first screenings of The Passion of the Christ in 2003. It was the catalyst to a tough ride of multiple accusations of extremism and anti-semitism. It was a visceral film, but it stuck to the story of Christ’s last hours.

Gibson has always been a controversy magnet. He’s a cauldron of brewing anxieties that could explode at any minute – equal parts rage and compassion, grittiness and sweetness. In the days when he used to play heroes, he used to prefer them to be reluctant, to be as cowardly as they are brave. The rooster from Chicken Run pedalling away from danger on his bike only to return and save the day springs to mind as being typical Gibson, always coming good in the end. That’s what he did with The Passion, a film that was savaged by opponents before it was released and went on to make him $200m, and become one of the highest-grossing movies in history.

And against all odds, he’s done it again with Apocalypto. It took box-office gold on its opening weekend in the US, and went to No 1 up against the usual seasonal blockbusters. I say against all odds, because it is in Mayan dialogue with subtitles and a cast of unknowns – mostly indigenous Indians. And even though it’s a wonderful, thrilling and cathartic movie, before it was released, Gibson’s stock in Hollywood could not have been lower. It’s a morally ambiguous industry here that decrees some screw-ups glamorous and others career-wrecking. Gibson’s hugely publicised shame involved a drunken binge, a crack-up after being sober for 15 years. He was arrested for drink-driving. He didn’t harm anyone apart from his own Lexus but he seemed to be on a mission of self-sabotage when he went off into a tirade against “f***ing Jews” being responsible for all the wars in the world.

Everybody loves a fall, and as falls go, this was catastrophic: the dreamy-eyed sexy movie star who enjoyed fabulous success with Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Ransom, Payback, and commanded $25m a film as an actor and made even more as a director, then gets incarcerated in a police cell and possibly goes to “Hollywood jail” for ever. Instead, Gibson seems to have pulled off a Hollywood resurrection. That still doesn’t mean he’s necessarily in a good mood. He likes to be in the moment, and if something goes wrong in an interview, he’ll just walk away.

He comes into the room just as I am tucking into the BLT sandwich his assistant brought me. It’s ungainly, I have mayonnaise all around my face. The Mel I get is gentleman Mel, who sees my embarrassment and makes an excuse to leave until I have finished it. He has been in and out like a shadow wearing a grey shirt, greying hair. Even the electric-blue eyes seem greyer.

When he comes back, he’s still gentle. He is hesitant when he talks of Apocalypto going down so well. “Hopefully, the work elicits some sort of emotional response in people. It’s intense, but that was the whole idea, to make a story that kept turning the screws tighter and tighter. A nail-biter thriller, but at the same time trying to provide an emotional universe.”

That’s the thing about Gibson, he’s not afraid to mix macho power with primal sensitivity. He is a man’s man filled with chunky testosterone who can easily inhabit the action hero. He’s also hypersensitive and can read the female psyche adeptly. “Interestingly, the people who graded the movie highest were women over 25. They liked it more than anybody.” I liked it because it was so exciting I couldn’t breathe. “Well, I didn’t want to make anything ponderous. I wanted

to make something that had octane in it. There’s always something compelling about a chase.”

And this is the ultimate chase movie. It is about a man whose life in paradise has been destroyed. He is about to be a human sacrifice, covered in cobalt blue. He escapes, he runs.

And at the same time it’s a love story, because he’s running to save his wife and child. “He’s running to find some kind of wholeness. This guy is terrified until he begins to overcome those fears.”

I’m wondering if all this running from fears is autobiographical. “It’s not specifically autobiographical, but I think many people will identify with it. It’s about an ordinary human being and what they can do when put in circumstances that heighten their existence.”