Tuesday, March 11, 2014

"A Journalist’s Plea On 10th Anniversary Of ‘The Passion Of The Christ’: Hollywood, Take Mel Gibson Off Your Blacklist"

Excerpt...

"The Gibson I’ve come to know isn’t a man who’ll shout from the rooftops that he’s not anti-Semitic, or hold a press conference to tell media those audiotapes were released as part of a shakedown, and that he never assaulted the mother of his infant daughter. He won’t explain to people that he first got himself into a career spiral because he’s a long struggling alcoholic who fell off the wagon and spewed hateful anti-Semitic remarks to an arresting officer who was Jewish. He won’t tell you that he’s still got a lot to offer Hollywood as a filmmaker."

"The fact that he won’t jump to his own defense is part of his problem, but also part of why I have grown to respect him. That is why on the occasion of this 10th anniversary of Passion, a film about an innocent man’s willingness to forgive the greatest injustice, I propose to Hollywood that it’s time to forgive Mel Gibson. He has been in the doghouse long enough. It’s time to give the guy another chance." read more

Deadline Hollywood

29 comments:

chickelit said...

Forget it. It's like people seeing anything more than the bad side of George Bush, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Harry Reid.

OK, I have a hard time seeing good in Harry Reid.

bagoh20 said...

I was just talking about this yesterday with a friend. We both liked his past work, and wished he did more, but I still consider him an asshole based on what I heard come out of his own mouth through a number of recordings I've heard. Different occasions with different victims for different reasons, but all were over the top rude, cruel, and unhinged.

Now that could all be a case of someone who is just a bad drunk. I know a few people like that who are normal and polite until they get just enough drunk. I don't know how to handle such people. They don't want to be assholes, and hate what they do after they've done it, but they know it happens when they drink and they don't seem to be able to consistently avoid it. Drinking is a hard problem for such people, because it sneaks up on them. They are just having fun with friends and all is good, and then they go one drink too far, and the point of no return is suddenly upon them. There is nothing to do but get away and wait until tomorrow.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I cant believe it's been 10 years since the passion.

Revenant said...

[He] isn’t a man who’ll shout from the rooftops [...] or hold a press conference [... or] explain to people [... or] tell you

So take it on faith, because he's too damned rich and important to explain himself to you.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Lemme guess - your sympathies, as with enforcing federal weed legislation, lie with socially rehabilitating the psychopathic lunatic who went off like this…

Paging the patron saint of lost causes.

Chip Ahoy said...

Did Scots really paint their war faces blue like that? That was a new one on me and my grandpa was straight up Scottish.

neverrrruderrrstuuuud'abluuudeewurrrrd'esaid.

Shouting Thomas said...

I like some of Mel Gibson movies.

These campaigns of denunciation over what people have to say about race or sex or whatever are just stupid.

ken in tx said...

It was the Picts who painted themselves blue. They attacked the Romans at Hadrian's wall. They also went into battle naked. They lived in southern Scotland. If this practice applied to other Scottish tribes or not, I don't know.

ken in tx said...

I should have said they lived in southern Caledonia. That's what the Romans called Scotland.

Michael Haz said...

They could have lived in Southern California.

Unknown said...

Is Mel a good and faithful democrat? That's all that is needed as a get out of doghouse card in fakeywood.

You can actually kill people and rape women if you are a good and faithful democrat.

What is Mel's position on climate change? That right there could save him years in further dog house incarceration.

Michael Haz said...

Have you noticed how selective people can be about forgiveness?

For example, someone can favor releasing from prison (a form of forgiveness, isn't it?) those who committed vice crimes - drug possession, prostitution, etc. - but still not forgive Mel Gibson.

Gibson's 'crime' was speaking while drunk. He's served ten years. That's enough time, isn't it?

If you can't forgive Mel Gibson, you need to look at your own biases. Or admit that you're simply not ever going to forgive Gibson because he made a movie about Christ, and in your world of tolerance and diversity, that's unforgivable.

chickelit said...

Rhythm and Balls said...
Lemme guess - your sympathies, as with enforcing federal weed legislation, lie with socially rehabilitating the psychopathic lunatic who went off like this…

To engage in hyperbole for a second -- R&B would rather give a jailhouse of convicted felons (who haven't even finished their sentences) the right to vote than give Mel Gibson the time of day.

Paddy O said...

The rule is to always forgive when people do things that offend other people.

"Forgive my debts, as I forgive the debts owed to people I don't agree with."

Icepick said...

Look, there is no way Hollywood will forgive Mel Gibson. Antisemitism is the one thing they won't forgive, even if he can make them lots of money.

Now child-molesting is something they will forgive no matter what.

Trooper York said...

What Paddy says is fair enough. If we don't want to forgive Jane Fonda or Woody Allen then we should not complain about Mel Gibson.

I personally don't care for his Anti-Semitic views and think he gives ultra-conservative Catholics like me a bad name.

But if he wants to continue to make movies he can certainly do so. People as diverse as Tyler Perry and Kirk Cameron have made a lot of money without the traditional Hollywood machine behind them. Mel can do the same if he wants to do so. He just can't suck at the Hollywood tit anymore because he is out of the club.

Trooper York said...

He has a lot of choices he can make. He can do a Father Coughlin bio-pic. Personally I think he would be perfect for the "Ambassador Joseph Kennedy Story."

Fit's like a shanty Irish glove if you ask me.

Unknown said...

Well said, Troop.
Mel Gibson isn't seeking my forgiveness. Mel wants back in the Hollywood fold. The group-think is a tough crowd. I suggest Mel attempt to gain access through the church of climate change.

Trooper York said...

He could get Kate Mara to play Rose Kennedy and Meryl Streep to play Gloria Swanson.

Unknown said...

Or perhaps Mel should sign up for the Luke Skywalker school of ACA Ponzi-scheme pimping.

Trooper York said...

Use the guys from Boardwalk Empire to play Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky.

Trooper York said...

With Rosie O'Donnell as Rosemary Kennedy. She wouldn't even have to act at all.

Trooper York said...

If Mel really believed in freedom the way he plays it in the movies he is free to finance his own work. It is not the way it used to be. He can get his work out there without the big studios. He just wants the easy way out.

Plus he is past it. He is too old for it now. Russell Crowe takes all the parts that used to go to him.

He needs to come up with a comeback series for Net Flicks or something. He could easily do it. Get his pal Jodie Forster to star in it with him and he is off to the races.

Lydia said...

If you can't forgive Mel Gibson, you need to look at your own biases. Or admit that you're simply not ever going to forgive Gibson because he made a movie about Christ, and in your world of tolerance and diversity, that's unforgivable.

Hollywood could have handled another movie about Christ, but not this one because of the way it portrayed Jews as the blood-thirsty killers of Christ, and in a way no different from the old Passion Plays. Not a good history there.

Paddy O said...

"because of the way it portrayed Jews as the blood-thirsty killers of Christ"

If not for those old Passion Plays I don't think anyone would have been offended. The anti-semitic tradition made it so a person can't make a movie of the Passion in any kind of authentic way.

The Romans were the blood-thirsty ones, that's pretty clear both in the beatings and in the crucifixion.

Also, there has never been a movie about Jesus that sought more authenticity in terms of language and approach.

Many Jews did want to kill Jesus, that's clear. Many Jews didn't, that's also clear. I think the movie brought that out quite well.

But like with Crack and seeing racism everywhere because of historical events where there was racism everywhere, any mention of the Jewish involvement with the crucifixion is always labeled anti-semitic because it was used to justify anti-Semitism for so many centuries.

Which is horribly ironic as Jesus's whole work on the cross entirely negates any ability to blame anyone else. He forgave, his later followers didn't. And every time they prayed, "Forgive us as we forgive others" they heap judgment on their heads.

Paddy O said...

Wasn't he going to do a movie about the Maccabees? What happened to that?

Also, he is in the next Expendables movie. So, that's a starting point for a comeback. He's playing the villain, which makes it more palatable to many. I don't think he's played a villain in any movie before. Well, I guess if you're English he's been a villain at least a couple of times.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

To engage in hyperbole for a second -- R&B would rather give a jailhouse of convicted felons (who haven't even finished their sentences) the right to vote than give Mel Gibson the time of day.

Actually, I think you're probably right. No, that's not hyperbolic. Call me crazy.

But then, I hope I'm not this crazy.

I don't get into a lot of South Park, but it's kind of funny how much foresight they had.

I seriously don't know how "forgiveness" plays into a guy with bigger cracks in his skull than the liberty bell. He could be forgiven for saying hateful things, (not that he didn't mean them - in vino veritas), but he was never sincere about wanting that anyway. The problem is how maniacally he went off on the silly Russian debutante. I mean, come on - she's probably no saint, probably a gold-digger, but that horrifically violent heavy breathing and "BLLLLLOOOWOWWWWW MMEEEMEMEEEEE!!!!" crap was just comically insane. The guy simply has no hold on the reality plane. His very mind is the personification of a lost cause. You say I should "forgive" him. What is there about him for me to even rescue?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Many Jews did want to kill Jesus, that's clear. Many Jews didn't, that's also clear.

I'm sure it's pretty clear though that many more didn't care and that many more than even that number didn't know. They were like "Who's Jesus?"

It doesn't detract from the supposed divinity of a personage to admit that the historical evidence for his physical existence, let alone his notoriety or renown, might well be somewhat shoddy. The important thing is the story and what it gets people to believe or behave like.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Contemporary notoriety or renown, that is.