E-Book Slams Mel Gibson on ‘Judah’ Movie
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas has written an e-book that recounts his fraught relationship with actor and director Mel Gibson and Gibson’s desire to write a “Jewish Braveheart.”
“Heaven and Mel,” a 30,000-word Kindle e-book published by Amazon, had been scheduled for release on June 6, but was released four days earlier after news of its existence surfaced.
In an April letter to Gibson, after Warner Bros. announced that it would not go forward with Eszterhas’ screenplay for Gibson’s movie about Judah Maccabee, Eszterhas said the actor and filmmaker “hates Jews.”
The letter also accused Gibson of not really wanting to make the film, and sabotaging it, saying: “I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason you won’t make ‘The Maccabees’ is the ugliest possible one. You hate Jews.” Eszterhas wrote that Gibson wanted to make the movie only so he could “convert the Jews to Christianity.”
The new book “provides context and detail around the conflict” between Gibson and Eszterhas, according to The Wrap. Included in the book are some of Gibson’s emails to Eszterhas during the research and writing for the screenplay.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
