Mel Gibon "Hates Jews", Joe Eszterhas Says In 9 Page Letter
Claims Gibson said the Holocaust was "mostly a lot of horseshit" and his intention in making The Maccabees was "to convert the Jews to Christianity".
Poor Mel Gibson. Once he was one of Hollywoods most bankable actors but now it seems hes more famous for stumbling from one self-inflicted scandal to another. The latest one involves screenwriter Joe Eszterha (Basic Instinct, Showgirls) who has written a nine-page letter to Gibson after Warner Bros. pulled the plug on The Maccabees, a film being written by Eszterha that Gibson was due to direct. The Maccabees centered on Judah Maccabee who, during the 2nd century, led a Jewish Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Warner Bros shelved the proposed film after stating the screenplay lacked feeling and a sense of triumph'' but Eszterha feels Gibson is the real cause. In the rather sensational letter, Joe Eszterha accuses the director of The Passion of the Christ of deliberately sabotaging the film for anti-Semitic reasons and claims that he never actually intended to direct the film, and Gibson only announced his involvement as an attempt to deflect long-gestating accusations that he hated Jews. Eszterha's later states; project to deflect continuing charges of anti-Semitism which have dogged you, charges which have crippled your career"He goes on to add that Gibson used racist terms "hebes", "oven-dodgers" and "Jewboys" to describe Jews during their time working together.
"I've come to the conclusion that the reason you won't make The Maccabees is the ugliest possible one. You hate Jews. You continually called Jews 'Hebes' and 'oven-dodgers' and 'Jewboys.' It seemed that most times when we discussed someone, you asked 'He's a Hebe, isn't he?' You said most 'gatekeepers' of American companies were 'Hebes' who 'controlled their bosses.'He also said that Gibson said the Holocaust was "mostly a lot of horseshit" and his intention in making The Maccabees was "to convert the Jews to Christianity". The accusations in this letter are not going to help Gibson who has been trying to rebuild his career ever since he got labeled as an anti-Semite after the 2006 incident in Malibu, where he was pulled over for drink driving and abused the police officer while claiming, "Fucking Jews... the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." But the accusations in the letter dont stop there. Eszterha also claims that Mel Gibson threatened to have his ex girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva murdered. He writes;
"You were raving at Oksana even after you'd reached a custody agreement over Luci. And then you were even more explicit about your threat: 'I'm going to kill her! I'm going to have her killed!'. You said you'd become friends with two FBI agents (or former FBI agents) and they were going to help you to kill her."Gibson was taped abusing Grigorieva over the phone in the now infamous, answer phone recordings after the couple split in 2010. In the letter, Joe Eszterha also claims that Mel Gibson is no fan of John Lennon. He writes that Gibson ranted the following when talking about the about the singer-song writer;
'I'm glad he's dead. He deserved to be shot. He was fucking messianic. Listen to his songs! Imagine. I hate that fucking song. I'm glad he's dead.''Mel Gibson wasted no time in responding to the damaging letter. In a statement on the Deadline website, Gibson accused Eszterha of fabricating all the claims. Gibson wrote;
"I would have thought that a man of principle, as you purport to be, would have withdrawn from the project regardless of the money if you truly believed me to be the person you describe in your letter, I guess you only had a problem with me after Warner Brothers rejected your script. "Contrary to your assertion that I was only developing Maccabees to burnish my tarnished reputation, I have been working on this project for over 10 years and it was publicly announced eight years ago," he continued. "I absolutely want to make this movie; it's just that neither Warner Brothers nor I want to make this movie based on your script. "Honestly, Joe, not only was the script delivered later than you promised, both Warner Brothers and I were extraordinarily disappointed with the draft. In 25 years of script development I have never seen a more substandard first draft or a more significant waste of time. The decision not to proceed with you was based on the quality of your script, not on any other factor."Gibson was last seen in Jodie Fosters The Beaver but the film was a massive flop and Mel Gibsons personal troubles were widely blamed. He will next be seen this summer in action movie How I Spent My Summer Vacation in which he plays a career criminal nabbed by Mexican authorities who is then placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy. It will be interesting to see if this letter has any effect on the performance of that film but it will defiantly do no favors for Gibson who is struggling to find studios that are willing to work with him. Its a shame as Mel Gibson is a talented actor and director. Hopefully he can sort the demons that are clearly troubling him but the damage to his career may now be irreparable. The letter was obtained by The Wrap and can be read in full here.