Mel Gibson's Washington Power Play

Movie star Mel Gibson -- under fire from Jewish groups and religious scholars for his still-unreleased film that graphically portrays the crucifixion of Jesus -- yesterday screened a two-hour rough cut of "The Passion" for a select group of Washington pundits, clergymen, cybergossip Matt Drudge and Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti, and at least one White House staffer.

"I've heard people talking about how I can't get a distributor," the casually dressed Gibson -- sporting sweat pants, sandals and white socks -- told the four dozen audience members. "Believe me, I can get a distributor."

A vocal conservative and devout Catholic, the 47-year-old Academy Award winner has weathered accusations of anti-Semitism for the movie, which is being produced by his company, Icon Productions. The influential Anti-Defamation League, which monitors incidents of anti-Semitism, has been especially critical, pointing out on its Web site the long historical relationship between passion plays and attacks on Jews: "ADL has serious concerns regarding Mr. Gibson's 'The Passion' and asks: Will the final version of 'The Passion' continue to portray Jews as blood-thirsty, sadistic and money-hungry enemies of Jesus? Will it correct the unambiguous depiction of Jews as the ones responsible for the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus?"

Yesterday's secret screening at the Motion Picture Association of America included columnists Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director Mark Rodgers of the Senate Republican conference chaired by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.); former Republican House member Mark Siljander of Michigan; and White House staffer David Kuo, deputy director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

more.....................
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26264-2003Jul22.html

nt

Not true I guess?

BUCHANAN: OK.

PRESS: OK...

BUCHANAN: Listen, you were taken by that film. You were taken by the guy, weren't you?

DRUDGE: It's the best picture I have seen in a long time and just don't take my word for it. You will see it. Total tears by grown men and women in Washington, D.C. in the middle of a summer afternoon.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashbp.htm

that this would be Mel's last movie. Care to speculate??

I think old Mel has crossed the line of sanity myself.

he took particular pleasure in Grove's getting kicked out

not the movie.

sick! How gross! I will never see another mel gibson movie again...and those movies he's always been in are violent!

for me would not be giving up much. He's a terrible actor who makes terrible movies.

.....

Yesterday's secret screening at the Motion Picture Association of America included columnists Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director Mark Rodgers of the Senate Republican conference chaired by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.); former Republican House member Mark Siljander of Michigan; and White House staffer David Kuo, deputy director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
(snip)

Geeze, Mel, why don't you just roll it out in front of the Biloxi, Miss. chapter of the John Birch Society? Nothing like getting it critiqued by a "mainstream" audience.

I can't fathom why the Jewish community (and the American community for that matter) believe you've got a real clunker in the can. :smoke:

He's more than giving it a puff. He's doing everything but selling Mel Gibson Jams & Jellies in the lobby.

I'm not sure who gives me the bigger headache: the self-righteous Gibson or the self-promoting Drudge.

in any group that he'll grovel, fawn, and suplicate. He's a desperate man who worships celebrity. He's not talented. He's not charming. He's not intelligent. He's not good looking. So. What does that leave him? He once met Mel Gibson at a screening of a really self-indulgent pet project of an egotistical actor once described as "that Australian dwarf".

Thats all I needed to know.

gee whiz. Mel really IS a righty isnt he?

The movie could be great. I'll give him that. I don't judge works of art/entertainment without seeing them...but the signs sure aren't looking good, that's for sure.

the one who gets his guts pecked out by crows, or something

Prometheus?

I'd have just as much emotional response to his "passion" as to that of any other made-up guy.

know where you can find the bible under the Dewey decimal system?

"Hercules, the Legendary Journeys" and then subsequently on "Xena, Warrior Princess".

Good to see that no religion thread misses the random anti-religion swipes that some lower themselves to take. Thanks for keeping such a pathetic rule in tact.

you mean anti-superstitionist?

I won't rise to the bait and start bashing atheism. I don't have any issues with it. It is a belief system, just like religion. I prefer religion. Some others here prefer atheism. That and a couple bucks will get you a cup of Starbucks coffee. What I do have beefs with is those who lack the maturity not to bash others here and prefer to let our differences drive us apart by taking unneeded swipes at those who dare have faith.

is it ok to dare to be agnostic?

hedging bets in this corner.

be more pompous, too.

helps your case a lot

I don't care if you are or if you care.

As for pompous, I can't outdo the folks who hate religion around here. (No, that is NOT all atheists, just a few in fact.)

If it makes people feel better, why not? What I don't like is having laws crammed down my throat because someone's religion thinks it's a sin. If there is no victim, there is no sin. I also don't want my tax money supporting these institutions. They can go beg for money, which they do very well without any help from the government.

just leave me (and my government) alone

worship the urinal cake in the men's room at Hooters, for all I care. whatever works for you.

didn't mean to offend

on your side, MOR, after all

One person's mythology is another's religion. So the swipes go both ways.

demos kratos

no myth-taking it

Good one.

Or, judging by that guest list, apparently Mel's brand of values is right at home with the scum of the earth.

And the VILE Sludge----only if things turn against his from-afar love object (Shrub) are things said to be getting "aggressive" and "ugly".

PRESS & BUCHANAN treated him like royalty (cough). There's always this ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, ever so slightly alluding to the way the CLINTONS were treated, with caveats about how they deserved it, but heaven forfend that Shrub be VEXED in the SLIGHTEST.

Wonder if our house SLUDGE fan---- who is always posting that SLUDGE is NOT that bad, that he was ANTI-WAR and is AGAINST the intrusions into privacy by the Patriot Act------selectively assesses SLUDGE, or perhaps IS Sludge.

the film is in Aramaic and Latin with no subtitles. So unless you are a Jesuit scholar or something like that I don't think you will be moved by the dialogue.

It's very apparent that the movie is a cultic one for the religious right Catholics. I find it scary. On the bright side, it should scare the hell out of Pat Robertson and the fundies.

bastards.

I don't know who the actor is who plays Jesus, but if Gibson is authentic, he will be someone who looks more like a son of Saddam or Osama than the blond, blue-eyed savior the fundies worship.

.

It originally didn't have subtitles?!

.

It's amazing he got that thing funded. I'd like to see the investor list, must be rife with ideologues and fundies.

without subtitles.

Probably too much pressure not to.

there isn't a bunch of pressure to throw in some explosions and chase scenes.....

can't wait

hope I won't have to stand in line too long

some of the rest of us will have to question it....