Quote:
|
Originally Posted by manda
thank you for those photos Jerry. great picture. we met and spoke to Mel Gibson the other night as he presented his movie to his fellow directors. most were stunned including my own husband who is Jewish. he did shed some tears and i'm so thanking God for that. God moved his heart. he admires Gibson even more as Gibson also presented himself a very fun, loving and truly humble Christian who knows what's like to live a wild life and found himself in the wilderness and darkness of sins at one point of his life.... God bless his wife for thru her God truly bless him.
will pray for you akabezalel as you watch the movie. it's not to be enjoyed, as my husband asked me why watch the movie more than once, i said to him because for me it is a reminder of God's suffer and Love for us.... a True Passionate & Ultimate Love -- no lust/sex involved. if ever people do so to one another.... wheuww.... ignore the sex, lust, violence all the basic instincts... man! that is Jesus Christ.
|
Mel Gibson: The Speed of Scandal
By ALLISON HOPE WEINER
New York Times LOS ANGELES, July 31 Almost as stunning as Mel Gibsons anti-Jewish tirade when arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in the early hours of last Friday was the speed at which the scandal unfolded, doing serious damage to one of Hollywoods most valuable careers along the way.
In a little over 24 hours, Mr. Gibsons arrest and subsequent behavior in Malibu had already prompted talk of a claimed cover-up, an exposé, worldwide news coverage, an apology and then a full-blown push for alcohol rehabilitation, even as his representatives and executives at the Walt Disney Company rushed to catch up with the events effect on the filmmakers movie and television projects with the company.
On Monday, Hope Hartman, a spokeswoman for Disneys ABC television network, said the company was dropping its plans to produce a Holocaust-themed miniseries in collaboration with Mr. Gibson.
Given that its been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon, Ms. Hartman said, referring to Mr. Gibsons production company.
She did not connect the projects termination to Mr. Gibsons remarks. But his statements had already attracted sharp criticism from some who argued that he should be disqualified from moving ahead with the series, despite having apologized for several anti-Jewish statements.
I dont think he should be doing a film on the Holocaust, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who had previously criticized what he saw as anti-Semitic overtones in Mr. Gibsons hit, The Passion of the Christ. It would be like asking someone associated with the K.K.K. to do a movie on the African-American experience.
Heidi Trotta, a spokeswoman for Disneys studio unit, said the company still expected to release Mr. Gibsons feature film Apocalypto on schedule in early December. Mr. Gibsons publicist, Alan Nierob, said he believed the movie would be released on time and by Disney, though he acknowledged that postproduction work would be interrupted by Mr. Gibsons planned program of rehabilitation for substance abuse.
Meanwhile, those who make a business of managing crisis were already gleaning lessons from the breakneck pace at which the incident had gone from unfortunate encounter to career threat.
The pervasiveness of the Internet has caused a dramatic increase in the dissemination of news, said Michael S. Sitrick, chairman of Sitrick & Company, who specializes in crisis communications. The message was that there is no such thing as a minor incident among those for whom celebrity is an asset. I would have reacted very quickly even if had just been reported in The Malibu Times, he said.
In Mr. Gibsons case, it was not The Malibu Times, but a Time Warner-owned celebrity news Web site, TMZ.com, that set off the media storm. On Friday evening, TMZ posted four pages of a sheriffs report describing what the arresting officer said was Mr. Gibsons belligerent behavior and a series of noxious remarks, including several deeply offensive comments about Jews.
In an accompanying article, the site said the officer had been told by superiors to withhold the pages containing the anti-Semitic and other inflammatory remarks from the report that would eventually be made public, reserving them for a separate portion that might escape widespread notice.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriffs department disputed the notion of a cover-up. The district attorney has the entire case now, said Steve Whitmore, the spokesman. We gave them everything we have.
By late Saturday, however, Mr. Gibson had issued a statement apologizing for his remarks. And the next morning, The Los Angeles Times in a report that carried no fewer than 11 bylines reported that a civilian oversight office had already decided to investigate whether Mr. Gibson had been given favorable treatment because of his celebrity status or long-time friendship with the county sheriff, Lee Baca.
Mel Gibson is an important person in Hollywood, a key player in one of Southern Californias most important industries, the Los Angeles Timess editor, Dean Baquet, said in a statement explaining the papers mass deployment over the weekend. Gibson also happens to be someone whose religious views have been the subject of debate since he produced a movie on the subject that is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. But mainly, its a good story.
A winner in all this was clearly TMZ, a celebrity news site that began operations just last November. This was huge for us, said Harvey Levin, the sites managing editor and something of an expert in celebrity scandal, having created the now-defunct television show Celebrity Justice.
For Mr. Gibson, things began their disastrous turn Thursday night, when he spent time drinking and posing for pictures at Moonshadows, an oceanside restaurant and watering hole in Malibu, where he has been a familiar fixture in recent weeks.
When an obviously inebriated Mr. Gibson announced his intention to leave, employees offered to call him a cab or drive him home, according to a person who was involved with events that evening but spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.
Mr. Gibson declined the assistance and instead jumped into his Lexus, and was quickly pulled over for speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway and then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
According to the report by the arresting officer, James Mee, Mr. Gibson demanded to know whether the deputy was a Jew, and said he would get even with me. In an obscenity-laced tirade, which included a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks, Mr. Gibson boasted that he owns Malibu. At one point, according to the report, the filmmaker tried to break free and had to be handcuffed.
The deputy asked that he be met at the station with a videocamera, according to the report. Mr. Whitmore, the sheriffs spokesman, said over the weekend that full details of the incident would ultimately be disclosed.
Mr. Nierob strongly challenged the notion of a cover-up. This report was leaked within minutes of its happening, and its anything but a cover-up, and certainly anything but preferential treatment, Mr. Nierob said Monday of his client. Hes been held to a much higher situation. You show me the cover-up.
Mr. Gibson spent much of the last year shooting Apocalypto, an idiosyncratic film shot in Mexico that used local actors to tell an epic story of warfare among the ancient Mayans. The film was originally set for release in August, but was delayed when heavy rains complicated the shoot.
Disney is distributing the movie in the United States, but did not directly finance it. Rather, Mr. Gibsons company, Icon Productions, engineered the financial backing, much as it did for The Passion of the Christ.
hendersonvillenews . com/apps/pbcs . dll/article?AID=/20060801/ZNYT05/608010338&SearchID=73252481871840
~
Praying for Mel Gibson
Linear Mode
