Mel Gibson opens in “Edge of Darkness” this Friday. It’s his first starring role since “Signs” in 2002. But a lot has changed.
Since then we’ve learned that Gibson is a racist and anti-Semite. He’s also a drunk, a liar and a philanderer. His father is a famous Holocaust denier who has a Web site explaining all his crazy beliefs. He also disavows the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in favor of his own brand of Catholicism.On a radio show called “The Political Cesspool,” broadcast on Jan. 9, 2010, Hutton Gibson went after the late Pope John Paul II for visiting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, for being a Russian or Communist agent and other crazy stuff.
“The whole bunch at the top,” Hutton Gibson says at 14:58 of the interview, of the current Archdiocese,””if they’re not outright queer, they’re supportive of it. They do nothing about the terrible things that go on among the clergy and the bishops.”
Listen to the interview here. (Thanks to blogger Adam Holland, who found the link.)
All that money that movie fans gave Mel in the past for his movies, including “The Passion of the Christ,” has been used to fuel these ideas. Mel currently has $50 million parked in a not-for-profit foundation called the A. P. Reilly Foundation. The foundation funds his private Holy Family Church in Malibu, California. The church is not recognized by any Archdiocese because the Gibsons have essentially seceded from regular Catholicism.
On his website, Hutton Gibson calls Pope Benedict XVI “Benny the Rat.”
And this is the same Mel Gibson who had seven children with his wife, then left her for a younger woman ‘ with whom he now has an illegitimate child. I’m not sure which Catholic church approves of this.
If you don’t recall, Gibson was pulled over in Malibu on July 28, 2006 for drunk driving. The police officer who pulled him over reported that Gibson said to him, “Fucking Jews… Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?” As it happened, the cop was Jewish. And he wrote down every word.
I don’t always trust the Web site TMZ.com, but this time they really got it right. Here’s the original story and police report.
The fact is, Mel Gibson has never apologized for this incident. He’s never explained it fully, either. And when Diane Sawyer asked him about his father, he refused to distance himself from Hutton Gibson’s views that the Holocaust never happened or criticize him in any way.
If you want to see evidence of Mel Gibson in 2010, check out this interview Gibson did with veteran Los Angeles Hollywood correspondent Sam Rubin.
When Rubin suggests that Gibson may not be wanted back by all of the movie audience, Gibson leans forward, gets aggressive, and asks, “Do you have a dog in this race?” It didn’t occur to Rubin until a few minutes later that Gibson meant because Rubin was Jewish.
Mel Gibson hasn’t changed. Neither has his father. Let’s not reward them.
Katie Holmes arrived early last night for a private dinner at Greenhouse (this is a New York nightclub that’s taken over a beautiful Park City home for events) for a film she’s in called “The Extra Man.” I happened to be walking up the driveway as she came by in a window-darkened Escalade, stayed for a few minutes, and then retreated. By the time dinner was served, Holmes was gone. Nevertheless, stars Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, and John C. Reilly mixed and mingled with directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (”
Sundance 2010 has been waiting for a breakout hit, and one that didn’t have a distributor. It finally happened at 8:30 on Monday night at the Library Center theater, which was packed for a “Special Surprise” screening of Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right.”
After a mostly depressing day of dramas, Sundance 2010 got a much needed jolt Sunday night.
Ryan Gosling has a very good way of distracting his mom when she’s watching one of his racy movies.
Sundance 2010 Saturday in the snow: yes, it keeps snowing. There are fewer good parties this year and one Sundance insider admits that this year “the festival was done on a shoestring.”
The big question mark of the day wasn’t answered until late in the evening, when Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman showed his “Jack Goes Boating.” Hoffman’starred in’this play off Broadway last year. Now he shows a real flair for directing, putting himself into the movie along with the amazing Amy Ryan, Daphne Rubin Vega, and John Ortiz. This was the big news of the day, as Michael Moore, Adrien Brody and Chris Cooper (who’s great in the Ben Affleck-Tommy Lee Jones film “
Just realized this: the musician who co-wrote “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”–which has won the Critics Choice and Golden Globe for Best Song–is named Ryan Bingham.
The best film from Sundance this year so far? Nicole Holofcener’s “Please Give.” Unfortunately for headlines, it’s already taken by Sony Pictures Classics.