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Friday, September 09, 2011

Is this a shameless attempt to shake off the anti-Semite image?

What Is Happening? Mel Gibson To Make Jewish Historical Epic With Joe Eszterhas
We’ve heard about actors or filmmakers trying to do some course correction to rejuvenate or repair their ailing career, but this is ridiculous. Deadline is reporting that Mel Gibson has teamed up with Joe Eszterhas to produce and potentially direct a script about revolutionary Jewish historical figure Judah Maccabee, to be produced under his Icon shingle and released by Warner Bros. Huh?

The story of Maccabee does fit within the Gibson wheelhouse, with its wide historical scope, morally outraged warrior protagonist and bloody battle sequences. Maccabee led a Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that conquered Judea in the second century B.C. The sticking point for most, though, will be the hero’s religion, especially after Gibson the filmmaker was lambasted for the palpable anti-Semitism in “The Passion of the Christ,” not to mention his drunk rants which included such memorable gems as “Fucking Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” The question remains: is Gibson trying to get back in the game or just recover some of the luster from his tarnished image?

Count me as an unbeliever. Gibson has proved over and over again to be an ranting anti-Semite. I shudder to think what he'll do with the Maccabeean story.

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