SHOCKER! Mel Gibson And Joe Eszterhas To Collaborate On Film Telling Jewish Hero Judah Maccabee Story For Warner Bros
EXCLUSIVE: It’s a project that will have everybody in Hollywood and beyond talking. I’ve learned that Warner Bros has set up an untitled drama that teams Gibson and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas on the telling of the heroic story of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee. Eszterhas will write the script, and I understand that Gibson will collaborate with him. 
Maccabee teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the second century B.C. Gibson has the first option to direct but will definitely produce the film through his Icon Productions banner. It’s understandable why Warner Bros would want to be back in business with Gibson, who was once a high-profile fixture there and who made a fortune for that studio with the Lethal Weapon series and other films.
Having put some painful personal issues behind him, Gibson is determined to get back to making movies. He has long wanted to make this film about heroic Jews, 
and it was discussed even when he was under fire after his drunken anti-Semitic rant during a 2006 Malibu arrest. Maccabee’s triumph and struggle against tyranny and oppression where people gave their lives so that others would be free to worship is celebrated by Jews all over the world through Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. This subject matter is a decided departure for the filmmaker famous for directing The Passion of the Christ. But in a way the subject matter is in his wheelhouse: Maccabee is a close cousin to William Wallace, leader of the Scottish rebellion against the English in Braveheart, the film that brought Gibson two Oscars: for Best Picture and Best Director. Gibson last directed Apocalypto about the Mayan civilization and a tribesman who escapes human sacrifice and saves his family. While Gibson has experienced tremendous success as a producer and director, his recent star turn in front of the camera in The Beaver was a box office failure even though it received a rousing ovation at this past Cannes Film Festival.
This new deal also marks a major return to filmmaking for Joe Eszterhas, once Hollywood’s highest paid screenwriter for pics like Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, and Flashdance. His credits also include two films that focused on Jewish themes: the 1987 Betrayed, which starred Debra Winger as an undercover FBI agent probing white supremacists, and 1989’s Music Box, which starred Jessica Lange whose Hungarian immigrant father is accused of engaging in atrocities during World War II. Both films were directed by Costa-Gavras and produced by Irwin Winkler. Music Box resulted in Eszterhas being condemned by the Hungarian Parliament for “betraying his heritage” by revealing the massacre of Jewish Hungarians by other Hungarians at the end of World War II. However, in 1995, Eszterhas was awarded the Emanuel Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his writings about the Holocaust in Hungary.
In recent years, Eszterhas stepped away from Hollywood, moved to Cleveland, overcame cancer, and focused on writing books instead of films. Both he and Gibson have had their share of travails, and make an unexpected and intriguing pairing on an unexpected and intriguing subject.
Boffo Beaver Box Office for Bros!
I hope it succeeds for Mel’s sake. I think it will be a great lesson for all.
Sheer genius. Maybe next we can have Fred Phelps put together a movie about the gay civil rights movement.
As my people say: “OY!”
Yeah Mel, we’ve had that joke already. So clever. Can’t hear it enough.
I can’t think of anything more disgusting than Mel. Period.
The very fact that WB would condone this is beyond me. Yes, its business, but Jesus (pun?) why collaborate anything Jewish with Mel.
He is an utter fucking shame to the religion and this business.
I can think of a lot of things far more disgusting than Mel Gibson:
Ob*ma, Chávez, Senate Democrats, Pelosi, the Black Caucus, etc.
And I bet you’ve never been called a racist.
Im a white christian ergo Im a racist. Its a badge I wear with pride.
You do know your Jesus was a brown-skinned Jew, right?
I agree 100%.
Mel got drunk, he ranted, he married the wrong girl, so what?
All those Mel haters no doubt have done much worse, and are hiding it.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I can say that Gibson makes great films. He is a gem.
@drott ski. Oh? Did Obama, Pelosi, etc threaten their loved ones too?
Add yourself to that list
If Roman Polanski, a convicted child rapist; can continue to make movies and receive accolades from the adoring Hollywood culture, then a bad drunk who runs off at the mouth can surely make whatever film he likes and you don’t have to go see it. I look forward to watching this film. I certainly think Roman Polanski is a far more disgusting person than Mel Gibson.
Knee-jerk react much?
+1
What liberals hate about Mel is that he isn’t one of them. I can’t tell you how often I have been called a Nazi because of my conservative beliefs, but I haven’t picketed any liberal racist. I haven’t tried to police who should and shouldn’t work in Hollywood. Back when liberals were accused of being communists we are told that it was a HORRIBLE tragedy to blacklist them. Now a conservative (whose views are not always the same as mine) goes through a divorce and says some regrettable things in a drunken rant and he is supposed to go off into a corner and die.
Tell me again about liberal compassion and tolerance, please.
He left his wife for a mistress. He created his own religious sect because he believed he was more Catholic than the Catholic Church. He’s fairly “liberal”.
No, but Mel Gibson made a movie about Jesus and has somewhat Christian theology. Otherwise, the comparison is great. There is an agenda here and that is to silence someone’s speech. When he made the passion, he became public enemy # 1, and then he had that anti semitic rant so that gave them material to use against him. Why they can overlook a pedophile like Polanski and crucify someone for saying a few words is really strange. Why they can react to words and yet dismiss a person’s actions, is amazing.
If Jack Warner was still alive and running WB he would have nothing to do with Gibson.
Fabulous news! I’ll look forward to this. Gibson is one of a kind.
Joseph — mega, mega dittos! Mel Gibson is incredibly talented, and has more than paid for his mistakes. Godspeed, Mel.
is it mega dittos if a lefty had said the same things as Gibson?
Left says all kinds of horrible statements, including “we will bring the gun” and any Joe Biden’s statements, for some reason they are color blind, they quit seeing all together.
Well good for him. Can’t say I know what goes on in his head on a daily basis, but could be a seriously good flick, and hey Gibson might even learn something in the doing. Gotta give him big points just for the effort.
I’m no cynic: Reformed Gibson and Reformed Eszterhas could actually make a damned fine film.
Talk about chutzpah…
Pushing everything else aside, the idea of the director of “Apocalypto” making another waaaaaaay long time ago historical epic is a good thing.