Did Mel Gibson go Mad Max?
Is Mel Gibson ready for "Lethal Weapon 5?"
Sure sounds like it. If you buy the report on TMZ about the actor/producer/director's behavior (anti-semitic racial slurs, profanity, threatening police officers) after his Thursday June 27 arrest for drunk driving in Malibu.
Four pages of what TMZ alleges is the original police report certainly suggests that Mel needs to start going to meetings again.
Or perhaps the "Braveheart" Oscar winner (Best Director, Best Picture) has just been spending way too much time making movies about the apocalypse, doomed cultures and ancient wars.
His new film, "Apocalypto," deals with the decline of the Mayan Empire and a young man who flees the dying kingdom rather than be sacrificed to the Gods. It's due out in December.
His next one is called "Warrior," about Boudica, a peasant woman who rose to lead Britain against the Romans in 61 AD and who was posthumously crowned Queen of the Empire.
One theory is that he just went postal after seeing a screening of Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" and realized that he shouldn't have turned down the role of Sgt. John McLoughlin to direct "Apocalypto."
Frankly, I think the "WTC" role Mel should have gone for is that of Dave Karnes, the real-life former Marine who, after watching the towers fall, felt compelled by God to go to the still-burning site and search for survivors. That brave, if slighty unhinged, patriotic commando part sounds tailor-made for the Mel Man.
Hey, maybe Mel's defense for this arrest will be to pull a Winona Ryder. He could say he was doing research for his new role in another film he's producing called "Sam and George." It's about two friends who reunite after one (Gibson) gets released from prison after serving twenty years for a crime he didn't commit.
Yeah, that's what I was doing. Role research, dammit!
But at least Mel had the good grace, er, sense to profusely apologize in a statement released on Saturday, July 29....
Photo Credits: Gosh, Mel Gibson looks completely sane at a press conference in Veracruz back in October 2005. Wonder what happened to set him off this week?
Queen/WireImage
On Saturday, Gibson released the following statement:
"After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health."
Post a comment
- Most Liked
- Most Commented
Hey, we all make mistakes. Let Mr. Gibson have a bit of dignity. We need to stop being such a judgemental country. We all make mistakes. Leave him alone. Mel is a great actor....
Greg in Sacramento
You should burn in hell, Mullah Mel!
I'm sure many,many people are arrested for DUI's everyday, but do we see their pictures in the papers or the arrest report's. NO, of course not, And many of them are bellergent and have said worst things then what Mel Gibson said..Who cares, it's not going to make a difference in his carrer as a actor, producer, or director. So get over it. It just a shame that this is all were going to be hearing for the next few days...
He is entitled to his opion, regardless of what you or any one else thinks....You don't have to agree with him, I don't. But I'll still see his movies as he is very good at what he does. ....You media people have nothing better to write about..with all the thing's going on in the world, You'd think you could fine something more worthy..
E. Zamarripa
McCarthyism is alive and well in America. It started with the Bush Presidency when any objection to the Administration's policy in War on Terror, Iraq War, War in Afghanistan was called "unpatriotic". But the witch hunt culture also starts by not making politically ocrrect films. Passion of the Christ may well be more historically accurate than not, but it is not politically correct to blame Jews or to associate them with any negative in the world. Hence the backlash.
Right now, comments made by an apparently stoned Gibson are causing ruckus. It's not just the anti-semitism part of it but also because for 27 years Gibson was the quintessential PR exercise restoring faith in all that is good - family man, successful action figure, director, Oscar, big bucks. If it was Foxman himself (ADL chairman) no one would bat an eyelid. Or maybe just one.
However, since when did Hollywood become the paragon of virtue? Roman Rolanski escaped conviction for sex with an underage girl and yet his film The Pianist did business in U.S. and abroad and got him an Oscar! Spielberg should have received an Oscar for a number of movies before Schindler's List, but he got one for that one. It is politically correct to make gold riding on the persecuted Jews of WWII. It is not in showing the other side. And Gibson is paying the price.
If Mel Gibson doesn't harbor anti-semitic beliefs, why did he express them when he was arrested? Why would he say things which he says he does "not believe to be true and which are despicable.", unless he actually believes them?
But when Hilary Clinton makes anti-Semitic remarks, while sober, the Hollywood class can hardly wait to make her president.
Those in a state of inebriation do not fabricate things to cause a stink. The stench comes when they spew out opinions that when sober they know better not to say.
Dear Mel:
Go sh-t in the ocean.
This is the U.S. remember? We are entitled to our opinions, even politically incorrect ones. Get over yourselves!
Mel,
OK. You are a drunk and you did a drunk thing.No excuses.
Remember, with all this backlash about your anti semitism take your medicine and move on. Whatever you have accomplished or will accomplish in this short life, the basic premise is we all are guilty of some transgression. No one is all good or bad. We make mistakes and hopefully we learn from them and have a real shot at doing better next time.
Actions are louder than words so prove to yourself that you are more than 'Booze talking'. You've done good in the past...do it again and some more. Temous dictum.
Andrew