Mel Gibson talks Hollywood and Maccabees film
Well, this is one way to try and revamp your image.
In a new interview with ComingSoon.net, Mel Gibson opened up about his films and troubled past — and in his mind, there isn’t much to apologize for. When asked whether Hollywood was a forgiving town, the 56-year-old actor replied,
“No it’s not. They have to forget. I don’t even think they’re vindictive. I don’t think they think there’s reason to forgive. And forgive what to begin with? What are they asking for? It’s almost like can you please forgive me for what? What did I do, really? It is kind of ridiculous. So it’s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what needs to be forgiven and I don’t consider that anything does because I didn’t hurt anyone. But you know, hey that’s life. It ain’t easy and it’s not fair. You’ve just got to slip the old water off the back and move on.”
In 2006, the actor got into hot water with his anti-Semitic tirade when he was pulled over for a DWI. He also ran into problems during his separation from former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, whom he threatened repeatedly in recordings.
Gibson has also courted controversy with the production of Maccabees, which would tell the story of Judah Maccabee, the Jewish hero whose revolt against the Seleucid Empire is celebrated each Hannukah. The Anti-Defamation League condemned the project last fall.
Gibson recently butted heads with Maccabees screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, after Eszterhas wrote Gibson a letter that concluded, “you hate Jews.” There is also a recording of Gibson unleashing on Eszterhas a tirade concerning his long-in-the-works script. Eszterhas is no longer attached to the project.
During his interview with ComingSoon.net, Gibson touched on his in-limbo Maccabees project, and shared his version of events, saying, “A guy gets paid to write a screenplay and doesn’t turn anything in for 14 months. That’s a serious problem. Not even an outline so I lost my nutter with him. I developed a Viking script almost a year after he started and I already had a second draft and he hadn’t even given me an outline…. I DO want to make it [Maccabees] and I will make it. And that’ll be a great film.”
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