New Film May Harm Gibson's Career [H'wood Bigs vow revenge]

NY Times ^ | 2/26/2004 | SHARON WAXMAN

[SauronOfMordor]

New Film May Harm Gibson's Career

By SHARON WAXMAN

Published: February 26, 2004

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25 — Mel Gibson's provocative new film, "The Passion of the Christ," is making some of Hollywood's most prominent executives uncomfortable in ways that may damage Mr. Gibson's career.

Hollywood is a close-knit world, and friendships and social contact are critical in the making of deals and the casting of movies. Many of Hollywood's most prominent figures are also Jewish. So with a furor arising around the film, along with Mr. Gibson's reluctance to distance himself from his father, who calls the Holocaust mostly fiction, it is no surprise that Hollywood — Jewish and non-Jewish — has been talking about little else, at least when it's not talking about the Oscars.

Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, the principals of DreamWorks, have privately expressed anger over the film, said an executive close to the two men.

The chairmen of two other major studios said they would avoid working with Mr. Gibson because of "The Passion of the Christ" and the star's remarks surrounding its release.

Neither of the chairmen would speak for attribution, but as one explained: "It doesn't matter what I say. It'll matter what I do. I will do something. I won't hire him. I won't support anything he's part of. Personally that's all I can do."

The chairman said he was angry not just because of what he had read about the film and its portrayal of Jews in relation to the death of Jesus, but because of Mr. Gibson's remarks defending his father, Hutton Gibson. Last week in a radio interview the elder Mr. Gibson repeated his contention that the Holocaust was "all — maybe not all fiction — but most of it is." Asked about his father's Holocaust denial in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC, the movie star told her to "leave it alone."

The other studio chairman, whose family fled European anti-Semitism before the Holocaust, was less emphatic but said, "I think I can live without him." But others said there would be no lasting backlash against Mel Gibson. "If the movie works, I don't think it will hurt him," said John Lesher, an agent with Endeavor. "People here will work with the anti-Christ if he'll put butts in seats." Mr. Lesher added, "He put his own money where his mouth is. He invested in himself."

As Mr. Lesher implied, Hollywood is also a place of businesspeople, and Mr. Gibson is a proven movie star, popular with audiences. There are few actors with that kind of bankability, no matter their personal views. Mr. Gibson is also a capable director. So some of the initial reactions to his film may fade over time.

Mr. Gibson not only directed and helped write the $30 million film, but he also paid for it, including production and marketing costs, out of his own pocket, which Hollywood has filled.

As an actor and successful director, from "Mad Max" (1979) through "Lethal Weapon" (1987) and its sequels to the Oscar-winning "Braveheart" (1995), Mr. Gibson has long been a Hollywood pet. But he has also been known as a prankster and a self-confessed abuser of various substances. Many in the relentlessly secular movie industry see his recent religious conversion — he practices a traditionalist version of Roman Catholicism — as another form of addiction.

Last Friday the media billionaire Haim Saban, former owner of the Fox Family Channel, sent a concerned e-mail message to friends about Mr. Gibson and his father.

The message forwarded an article by the journalist Mitch Albom calling on Mr. Gibson to repudiate his father's denial of the Holocaust. Mr. Saban sent the article to, among others, Roger Ailes, who heads Fox News; Norman Pattiz, who runs the Westwood One radio network; and Michael R. Milken, the securities felon turned philanthropist.

Amid the daily dealings of Hollywood, the film and the star have been fodder for unfavorable gossip. Dustin Hoffman has talked to friends about what he called Mr. Gibson's "strangeness" during the ABC interview. The producer Mike Medavoy said Mr. Gibson's religious zealotry made him feel uncomfortable. Mr. Hoffman is Jewish; Mr. Medavoy is the child of Holocaust survivors.

"One question is, `What propelled him to make the movie about the passion of Christ?' " Mr. Medavoy said. "It makes me a little squeamish. What makes me squeamish about religion in general is that people think they have the answer: `I think my God is the right God.' How do you argue against that?"

[Weimdog]

I haven't seen the film yet, but what do you think the odds are of The Passion receiving Oscar nominations next year?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

God willing, Mel will one day be in Lucas's financial bracket.

But Lucas counts his cash in the billions; Mel's still stuck in the paltry millions.

[savedbygrace]

Sounds a lot like black-listing. Didn't that used to be a nasty word in Hollywood?

[I'm ALL Right!]

I thought Braveheart and Signs were phenomenal enough to put him in their category....this one puts him beyond their reach.

[thackney]

Mr. Gibson not only directed and helped write the $30 million film, but he also paid for it, including production and marketing costs, out of his own pocket

A guy who can make and pay for his own successful films isn't dependent on other for his career. The Passion would not be in the theaters today if he depended on others in the business.

[GreenCell]

I don't think he'll be too concerned about it...we'll see more of Mel than any other actor/producer/director currently working.

[dansangel]

I will totally withdraw from the human race if James Caviezel is not nominated for Best Actor.

[dc-zoo]

Hollywood wouldn't back him when he needed their help. He sure as hell doesn't need their help now.

[Revolting cat!]

I am going to see if I can get tickets now

I'm going to give $2.50 to my stewardess friends this afternoon to get me a DVD copy in Hong Kong or Eastern Europe!

[Trust but Verify]

I don't think what he offered was a defense of his father, but an admonishment to Diane Sawyer that she shouldn't tread onto the turf of a father and son. Let's be honest. The left wants the son to denounce his father. No good son would ever do that.

[Bonaparte]

LOL! Hollywood isn't going to believe the backlash they're going to get from their persecution of Mel Gibson.

[passionfruit]

Hollywood can tell little guys "you will never work in this town again!" Thay can't tell that to a guy that not only acts, but writes his own movies, directs them and finances them.

By the way, most of the movies I have really enjoyed never received an oscar.

[King Black Robe]

You mean they plan to blacklist him? What a bunch of McCarthyites.

[KantianBurke]

Pontius Pilate: So, youw fawtha was a Woman. Who was he?
Brian: He was a Centurion, in the Jeruselem Garrison.
Pontius Pilate: What was his name?
Brian: Nottius Maximus, sir.
Centurion: [giggle]
Pontius Pilate: Centuwion do you have anyone in your gawwison by that name?
Centurion: No, sir.
Pontius Pilate: Well you seem awfully sure, have you checked?
Centurion: I think its a joke, sir. Sort of like...uh...Sillius Sodus, or Biggus Dickus. (guards giggle)
Pontius Pilate: What's so funny about "Biggus Dickus?"
Centurion: Its a joke name, sir.
Pontius Pilate: I have a vewy good fwiend in Wome named "Biggus Dickus."
[guard laughs]
Pontius Pilate: WIGHT! THATS IT!
Centurion: Oh, but sir...
Pontius Pilate: No, no, no. I want him fighting weally, wild, wavish animals by the mowning!

[coydog]

Good for him. Who needs Hollywierd any more? The only movies I've seen in the last four months are RotK and a special screening of Army of Darkness.... "Come get some!"

COYDOG

[Sabertooth]

Prior to DreamWorks, at least, these two clowns shoveled more crap into the American psyche than anyone I know. A pox on them if their 'power' seems threatened.

Katzenberg and Geffen are also both homosexuals.

Think they might be biased against a powerful, sympathetic portrayal of Jesus, especially this month?

[maggief]

If the left boycotts Mel we can certainly boycott them. For the left, free speech is a one way street.

[Qwinn]

Gee... Hollywood has a blacklist? Who would've thought!

McCarthy actually never started a "blacklist"... he was accused of leaking names, but that was never proven, and the evidence I've seen suggests to me that it was a staffer. The rest of the blacklist issue was people who obtained that list of names that was leaked and refused to hire them -of their own volition-, just as these producers are claiming. No blacklist was imposed by the government in any civilian position.

You know what even Ann Coulter missed in her book Treason? Jack Warner of Warner Brothers -privately requested- that McCarthy investigate and find the communists working for him in Hollywood. He was quoted as saying "they're everywhere".

But apparently, Hollywood's outrage over McCarthy is a total fabrication (what a surprise). Hollywood feels blacklists over a person's personal beliefs are entirely and completely appropriate. There is no difference between McCarthy and these people except that for Hollywood, it's Christianity that must be blacklisted.

The Left nauseates me.

Qwinn

[WOSG]

Yeah, he souds surprised at the most natural concept of belief.

As if this guy goes around thinking to hmself "Hey, my own world-view is completely wrong!". Not.

[jwalburg]

That is true. I hate violent movies. I wasn't going to see this one. But the more the left, who never complains about other violent movies, protests over the violence in this one, the more I know I have to see this.