The Jewish reporter Allison Hope Weiner (@ahopeweiner) offered an impassioned defense of Mel Gibson in Deadline Hollywood yesterday. Whether you agree with her or not – mainly she says he’s spent enough time as a Hollywood pariah and it’s time to forgive – will depend on how you feel about his transgressions, which she says are fueled by his alcoholism, which he has worked on to control.
Gibson’s problems began in 2006 when he went on an anti-Semitic rant against the Jewish police officer who stopped him for a DUI arrest. Then there was his alleged abused of his estranged girlfriend, who subsequently tried to soak him for money she claimed was for child support but seemed to have elements of blackmail.
Since then he has become a Hollywood outcast.
Gibson has made many notable films, including his star turn in “Mad Max” (1979), “The Year of Living Dangerous” (1982), and the four “Lethal Weapon” movies. In 1995 he received an Academy Award for best director for “Braveheart,” which was also named best film.
I met Gibson in 2002 at the New York premiere of the M. Night Shyamalan film “Signs.” He had great disdain for the press, and he was very unpleasant on the red carpet and at the after party. Too bad because I was a fan of his work and looked forward to speaking to him.
At the after party, his publicist was kind enough to let me have a few minutes with him. He was sitting at a table eating slices of beef, which were rare and bloody. He ate with his fingers and then he offered me a wet hand to shake. He invited me to sit down. What I didn’t know was that the prankster had spilled water on the seat, which I was unaware of, and I got up with a wet trousers. This was his idea of humor. Subsequently, I ran into other journalists who told me he did the same thing to them. I have not been a Mel Gibson fan since.
Is it time to take another look at his work?
To coincide with Easter, Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” will air on April 13 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on the UP Television Network.
The highly successful film was first released in 2004 and has earned $604M worldwide at the box office. It remains the highest-grossing religious film in history. It has never aired on a commercial network since its release. Directed by Gibson from a script he co-wrote with Benedict Fitzgerald, the film stars Jim Caviezel (“The Prisoner,” “Person of Interest”) as Jesus and Monica Bullucci (“The Matrix Reloaded”) as Mary Magdalene. According to the UP release, the network will air an edited-for-televison version provided by the producer.
Another highly unusual aspect of the film is that it is spoken entirely in reconstructed Aramaic and Latin with subtitles. It focuses on the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The film begins in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is arrested and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem where leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death. The major complaint against the film was that it was anti-Semitic.
What do you think? Is it time for Hollywood and the public to forgive the actor and let him make movies again?
I’ve witnessed alcoholics that are allergic to alcohol they don’t remember the rants and they usually don’t reflect their feelings it’s something they’ve heard from an authority figure over and over and it’ll be that conversation going on inside their head so the observer is only getting one side of what is rattling around in a besotted mind. He’s probably heard a lot of bizarre things coming out of his Dad’s mouth growing up. The cop shouldn’t have made that stuff public I’m sure he knows that drunks are in blackout mode during rants. Plus Mel was under a lot of pressure from that charming baby mama which I think was a set up to get as much out of him as possible and it pushed him over the edge. FREE MEL GIBSON!
He met the baby momma after his arrest for the DUI.
I would like to see him make the “Maccabees” movie but starring someone else. You notice his looks are shot. Alcohol has taken its toll. He is only a few years older than George Clooney.
Except for Jodie Foster it’s interesting no Hollywood stars have come to his defense. That is sad but telling. He seems to have no friends.
You know what? He sounds like a real jerk who doesn’t care about anyone. I’m sorry, but all I can do is feel sorry for him, not forgiveness, though.
He is a jerk but there are worse things. Forgiveness is good for the soul. He’s made some good films and I would be inclined to favor him getting another chance but so much of his career depended on his looks and they are gone. He should pursue directing if any creditable actors would star in his film.
The Deadline Reporter who has become his friend seems to have crossed a line. Reporters and the celebs they cover are not real friends. Looks to me like Mel is using her. If they were really friends she wouldn’t be writing about him.
And Mel has never distanced himself from his Holocaust denying father’s toxic opinions. He can do that without calling his father a nut case which he clearly is.
When I encountered him at a press event I felt sorry for his beautiful long-suffering wife who finally had enough.
There is no reason to feel too sorry for him because he has hundreds of millions still. He also has a lot invested in a church he founded which is tax deductible.
Even with all that I wish he could get it together.