being Pro-Mel Gibson

I just counted and I have 20 of his movies on DVD. The "publicly heckled" thing - to me - is geared more toward people who don't so much care about movies or TV anyway but just want to shit on celebrities in general. 1) If you are gay, maybe maybe you resent that he a) is Traditionalist Catholic b) may have said something about not being interested in flirtations from men (a remark I have not read or seen a link to), c) told a joke at a party in the eighties to Winona Ryder and her gay friend which you interpret as hostile as opposed to breaking the ice, of d) had a hilarious scene in Braveheart where Longshanks pretends to confide in his fey son's boyfriend and then flings him out the castle window. Or maybe they don't like Mel pretending to be gay in Bird on a Wire and What Women Want. 2) If you are Jewish and just "love to hate" Mel without giving any actual thought to the overall context of his 2006 drunk driving remarks, you may hold a grudge. If you resent the fact that he made what feels like an accurate dramatization of The Passion of the Christ, you probably already hated him when he announced the project and hadn't even written the script yet. And maybe even being Catholic is by definition some sort of offence against extreme Judaism that can't bear to imagine any distant ancestor crucifying someone for blasphemy. Or maybe you blame Mel for the sins of his own father Hutton Gibson whose ramblings about the Holocaust have been fact-free and embarrassing especially for a former Jeopardy winner. Somewhere in the middle are very smart gay activists who hate Mel for category 1) reasons, and put their time and energy into fanning the flames of category 2). I'd like to see what kind of Viking movie crazy Mel would have made. Maybe some day. Although with the release of Edge of Darkness Mel was fending off a lot of interviewers whose motive seemed to be to re-set all things back to 2006 and erase whatever cooling off had naturally happened. I think there is a destructive and misguided push against Mel. One could say that he should have assumed at all times someone will try to record his voice and he was off the rails when he phoned his ex-girlfriend (his enemy) and spoke on her level. Whatever Mel's worst haters think of him, I think worse of Oksana. Funny or Die had an interesting skit with Mel in a meeting with Jamie Fox and Gary Shandling. I think Mel basically has to tough it out. If he wasn't such a positive force in film, it wouldn't matter if he never worked again. I'll definitely see Get the Gringo, formerly How I Spent My Summer Vacation, though I expect Mel's "Vacation" has gone on longer than expected. He still seems to be in good form, but there is so much misinformation being pushed out by media that it will be a miracle if he gets anything more mainstream than the bad guy role in Machete Kills. (Although I hope it is true Rodriguez plans to use him; he will be a step up from Steven Segall). You know, there are some people I like who have a blind spot about Mel. With bi-polar disorder, alcoholism and Catholicism pressing on him, it is a miracle that he can be so funny and interesting in films. The odds may be against him getting a lead again in a big film. But then maybe big films are going down the drain anyway. It will all be niches and I still consider myself part of that niche that will see Gibson's flicks. The Maccabee story doesn't itself interest me, nor did Joe Esterhauz as a writer of it. I'm not shocked that when his last minute whipped up draft was rejected by the studio. Apparently after months of discussions with Mel he hadn't written one page when he arrived with his family at Mel's island. So there is legitimate anger there. But then he blames Mel for "not wanting to make" the Maccabee film -- when Mel has said for 8 years it was his plan and he will make it with whatever script gets green-lit by a studio. Joe felt himself being thrown under the bus, so he tried to throw Mel under the bus with his allegations about Mel's deportment on his island. Most interesting is the accusation that Mel went off on a tirade about wanting Oksana killed and what profane things should be done to her (all understandable and things I want done even though she isn't my own personal tormentor). Joe said his young son witnessed this, that he was in the room when Mel was spewing this, and that his son videotaped it. Uh, one part of that puzzle doesn't fit. First, if he had the footage, it would be "leaked" just like his letter to Mel was leaked. Second, if the little boy was in the room with a videocamera Mel would not have said profane things, given his nightmare with Oksana. Third, it's no judgement against Mel if he didn't know the kid was in the room and he only thought he was talking to the biker-like screenwriter of Basic Instinct and Showgirls. I just counted and I have 20 of his movies on DVD. The "publicly heckled" thing - to me - is geared more toward people who don't so much care about movies or TV anyway but just want to shit on celebrities in general. 1) If you are gay, maybe maybe you resent that he a) is Traditionalist Catholic b) may have said something about not being interested in flirtations from men (a remark I have not read or seen a link to), c) told a joke at a party in the eighties to Winona Ryder and her gay friend which you interpret as hostile as opposed to breaking the ice, of d) had a hilarious scene in Braveheart where Longshanks pretends to confide in his fey son's boyfriend and then flings him out the castle window. Or maybe they don't like Mel pretending to be gay in Bird on a Wire and What Women Want. 2) If you are Jewish and just "love to hate" Mel without giving any actual thought to the overall context of his 2006 drunk driving remarks, you may hold a grudge. If you resent the fact that he made what feels like an accurate dramatization of The Passion of the Christ, you probably already hated him when he announced the project and hadn't even written the script yet. And maybe even being Catholic is by definition some sort of offence against extreme Judaism that can't bear to imagine any distant ancestor crucifying someone for blasphemy. Or maybe you blame Mel for the sins of his own father Hutton Gibson whose ramblings about the Holocaust have been fact-free and embarrassing especially for a former Jeopardy winner. Somewhere in the middle are very smart gay activists who hate Mel for category 1) reasons, and put their time and energy into fanning the flames of category 2). I'd like to see what kind of Viking movie crazy Mel would have made. Maybe some day. Although with the release of Edge of Darkness Mel was fending off a lot of interviewers whose motive seemed to be to re-set all things back to 2006 and erase whatever cooling off had naturally happened. I think there is a destructive and misguided push against Mel. One could say that he should have assumed at all times someone will try to record his voice and he was off the rails when he phoned his ex-girlfriend (his enemy) and spoke on her level. Whatever Mel's worst haters think of him, I think worse of Oksana. Funny or Die had an interesting skit with Mel in a meeting with Jamie Fox and Gary Shandling. I think Mel basically has to tough it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRIeT5R7edU If he wasn't such a positive force in film, it wouldn't matter if he never worked again. I'll definitely see Get the Gringo, formerly How I Spent My Summer Vacation, though I expect Mel's "Vacation" has gone on longer than expected. He still seems to be in good form, but there is so much misinformation being pushed out by media that it will be a miracle if he gets anything more mainstream than the bad guy role in Machete Kills. (Although I hope it is true Rodriguez plans to use him; he will be a step up from Steven Segall). You know, there are some people I like who have a blind spot about Mel. With bi-polar disorder, alcoholism and Catholicism pressing on him, it is a miracle that he can be so funny and interesting in films. The odds may be against him getting a lead again in a big film. But then maybe big films are going down the drain anyway. It will all be niches and I still consider myself part of that niche that will see Gibson's flicks. The Maccabee story doesn't itself interest me, nor did Joe Esterhauz as a writer of it. I'm not shocked that when his last minute whipped up draft was rejected by the studio. Apparently after months of discussions with Mel he hadn't written one page when he arrived with his family at Mel's island. So there is legitimate anger there. But then he blames Mel for "not wanting to make" the Maccabee film -- when Mel has said for 8 years it was his plan and he will make it with whatever script gets green-lit by a studio. Joe felt himself being thrown under the bus, so he tried to throw Mel under the bus with his allegations about Mel's deportment on his island. Most interesting is the accusation that Mel went off on a tirade about wanting Oksana killed and what profane things should be done to her (all understandable and things I want done even though she isn't my own personal tormentor). Joe said his young son witnessed this, that he was in the room when Mel was spewing this, and that his son videotaped it. Uh, one part of that puzzle doesn't fit. First, if he had the footage, it would be "leaked" just like his letter to Mel was leaked. Second, if the little boy was in the room with a videocamera Mel would not have said profane things, given his nightmare with Oksana. Third, it's no judgement against Mel if he didn't know the kid was in the room and he only thought he was talking to the biker-like screenwriter of Basic Instinct and Showgirls.