Well, there’s no question that this was going to raise a few eyebrows.
Mel Gibson — who is unfortunately recently known for more of his off-screen behavior than on — won two Oscars for Braveheart, a movie he directed, produced, and starred in. Two of the other films he directed — The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto — have also received praise for his directing ability, although the reaction to the former depends on who you ask. In fact, because of the controversy around around The Passion of the Christ — which many claim casts the Jewish characters in a horrible light, which wasn’t helped by Gibson‘s drunken comments about Jews during his 2006 DUI arrest — Gibson is finding a lot of resistance over his just-announced next project, a drama about the Biblical story of Judah Maccabee, a Jewish warrior.
Deadline broke the story last night, adding that Gibson has set up the project at Warner Bros. through his Icon Productions and he would be working with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas — himself no stranger to controversy as the writer of Basic Instinct, Showgirls and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (he hasn’t worked in Hollywood since that last one. If you ever see it you’ll know why). Gibson will produce the film, but does have the option to direct as well. Some speculation even suggests that Gibson might even star as a Maccabee, though I assume his age will put those rumors to rest
Already there has been backlash: the story was barely published before The Hollywood Reporter had comments from Jewish leaders — including Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti Defamation League who also criticized Gibson for The Passion of the Christ. The ADL later released an official statement, which was quickly posted by Entertainment Weekly. Gibson sort-of had a chance to defend himself already when a writer who previously interviewed Gibson about his Maccabee interest (Gibson has talked about making a film about Judah Maccabee for some time) posted Gibson‘s comments on The Atlantic. Gibson said he wasn’t interested in the project because of money — he pointed out that Braveheart didn’t even make much money — and described the Biblical stories of Maccabee as “ripping good reads” and inherently “cinematic” because of the epic battle scenes.
I can’t disagree with Gibson on that: the story of Judah Maccabee — who lead the Hebrews to victories over the Greeks — is the stuff of classic Biblical epics and not far removed from the Braveheart formula. It’s actually surprising that it hasn’t been made into a film before.
As for the controversy… well, Warner Bros. isn’t stupid. If it truly believe that Gibson plans on making an antisemitic film I’m sure it would pull the plug on the project. In fact, Warner Bros. might even view this as Gibson‘s attempt to make amends for his past stupid remarks. Frankly any controversy over the film will likely propel the movie’s success much like the controversy over The Passion of the Christ helped fuel that movie to over $600 million worldwide box office. So if you’re against Gibson making this film the best thing you could probably do is just not talk about it. Otherwise you’ll have to just separate the author from his work — after all, people still see Roman Polanski‘s movies — and judge the film for what it is.
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