March 18, 2004

MAD MACS (via Tom Morin):

Mel's New Testament Profits: Gibson Could Earn $500 Million From His Leap of Faith (Anne Thompson, March 18, 2004, The Washington Post)

Only one man has ever taken hundreds of millions out of the Hollywood studio system: George Lucas. He socked his "Star Wars" millions into his Bay Area empire Lucasfilm Ltd. and now funds his own movies and reaps the rewards.

Gibson now has the same kind of freedom. Speculation abounds on what he will do with his half-billion.

Asked whether Gibson will donate some of the money from the film to charity, his spokesman Alan Nierob said: "It would be out of character for Mel to publicize his private donations."

He's most likely, sources close to him say, to put money into more religious-themed films. He's scheduled to do another "Mad Max" movie, though those close to Gibson find it hard to imagine him now wanting to do that or make another "Lethal Weapon" sequel.

This much we do know. On Tuesday, Gibson told ABC Radio that there were several "R-rated" Old Testament stories that "fired his imagination," most notably the tale of the Maccabees, who overthrew an idol-worshiping Syrian king in 164 B.C. "They stood up for their beliefs and made war and came out winning," Gibson said. "It's like a western, you know."


Now that would truly be anti-Semitic--Rabbi Foxman's head will explode just at the thought of a supposed Jew-hater turning them into pop heroes.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 18, 2004 6:09 PM
Comments

I think the good Rabbi is actually spluttering because it's not Steven Spielberg proposing to make an action spectacular about the heroic Maccabees - who, as far as I know, are WAY overdue for a motion picture about their exploits. In fact, I don't understand why there has never been a Maccabee movie that I know of. The story's got everything - dauntless heroes! hissable villains! Romans in the good-guy days of the Republic! Divine miracles! It's boffo box office, I tell you.

Posted by: Joe at March 18, 2004 6:20 PM

What's this, chopped liver?

Posted by: David Cohen at March 18, 2004 7:35 PM

Aack! Go ahead and say it, David: "Made ya look!"

Posted by: R.W. at March 18, 2004 7:47 PM

I suspect that many Jews are wary of any depiction of Jews as other than victims.

Posted by: Carter at March 18, 2004 11:44 PM

I hope he ignores Bar Kochba. Jews of the era acted enough like today's Arabs that any movie will either make Jews look like idiots or make today's Arabs look like heroes.

OTOH, the former has been done in "Life of Brian."

Posted by: Joseph Hertzlinger at March 19, 2004 12:58 AM

Chopped liver sounds better than Veggie Tales for Jews!

Posted by: at March 19, 2004 1:12 AM

What's Gibson going to do next?

I think he'll probably produce a re-imagining of Gandhi's life directed by John Woo. He hasn't done a movie where the Brits were villains for some time and must be getting antsy.

Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 19, 2004 5:10 AM

I don't think he'd use Woo. Too many pigeons.

Anyway, everyone knows Gandhi couldn't shoot with two pistols. His left hand was weak. Woo wouldn't bite on a film where at least one protagonist couldn't fire two guns at once.

Posted by: Chris at March 19, 2004 7:53 AM

David: The Paris one was funnier.

Posted by: Chris at March 19, 2004 7:54 AM
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