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Mel Struggles to Catch the Falling Knife
Mel Gibson Feels Michael Richards' PainNEW YORK (Nov. 29) - Though he's lost many "I feel really badly for the guy. He was obviously in a state of stress. You don't need to be inebriated to be bent out of shape. Just warped morals or twisted world view will do the job. But my heart went out to the guy." And then got snapped back by my publicist like a bungee cord diver. The 50-year-old actor-director added: "They'll probably torture him for a while and then let him go. I like him." "He's got politically correct victim written all over him, just like me." After his Nov. 17 tirade became known, Richards apologized on David Letterman's "Late Show" on CBS, saying his remarks were sparked by anger at being heckled, not bigotry. He also apologized to the Rev. Al Sharpton and on the Rev. Jesse Jackson's syndicated radio program. Kissing @ss of that sort can only be done under the most extreme and excusable duress. Not even Mel went that far ... yet. Gibson, star of the "Lethal Weapon" movies and director of "The Passion of the Christ," was mired in a scandal of his own this summer for anti-Semitic comments he made to police in Malibu, Calif., during his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving. He publicly apologized. "It was my father talking." Are people refusing to work with him? "No, people aren't like that," Gibson tells the magazine. "Those are just the headlines: Mel ostracized by Hollywood! Hollywood is what you make it. Never have Hollyweird's morals been so ariculately encapsulated. There is no great pooh-bah up there saying, `Go! You are condemned!"' Perhaps not, but there's still your conscience, if you have one. Gibson says he's not anti-Semitic. He just blames them for all of the world's wars, that's all. "I never have been and never would be," he says. "But (the incident) hit this fear thing in me. My god, I made people afraid. ... And it was a horrible feeling. That's when I said, `My god, I don't want to be that monster."' Then STFU and work against such vile disinformation instead of spewing it in your movie. His new movie, "Apocalypto," from The Walt Disney Co.'s Touchstone Pictures, opens Dec. 8. It is a Mayan-language epic filmed in Mexico chronicling the decline of the native civilization. He's confident his past remarks will not hurt the movie at the box office. I'm not. We'll see. "It's primarily entertainment," he says of his production. "An 18-year-old college guy, out with his buddies, he's going to get into the chase. The movie will stand on its own, regardless of any unfortunate experience I may have stumbled upon." Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-30 |
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