I have to admit to having been completely skeptical about Mel Gibson making a movie about one of Judaism's most inspirational stories. It just smelled like a PR move.
Now, the screenwriter working on the project - Joe Eszterhas, writer of Flashdance, Basic Instinct, Sliver, etc. - has written Gibson a 9-page letter denouncing him for never really intending to make the film. "Instead, Eszterhas said, Gibson announced the project “in an attempt to
deflect continuing charges of anti-Semitism which have dogged you,
charges which have crippled your career.”"
This isn't terribly surprising to jews. It is a little surprising that Eszterhas really felt that Gibson was coming into the project unbiased. "After encountering Gibson’s conduct, Eszterhas writes that he felt
trapped, but then decided to ignore the racist remarks and write the
script based on his own research." All of this after Eszterhas wrote this in his 2008 book: "No doubt now. Mel was a raving anti-semite who ... shared the mindset of Adolf Hitler."
What exactly was it that made Joe think Mel had had a change of heart?
A nice quote from his letter:
"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.'"
[Oven-dodgers? Nice, really nice.]
The article and the letter itself.
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