MARCH, 18.- NO, PLEASE, NO MORE ARGUMENTS!.
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abe Foxman isn't too pleased to hear about Gibson's interest.
"My answer would be 'thanks but no thanks.' The last thing we need in Jewish history is to convert our history into a Western," says Foxman, adding jokingly, "In his hands we may wind up losing."
Controversy has surrounded "Passion" even before its release. Religious critics claim that the depiction of the crucifixion caused by the Jews would incite anti-Semitic feelings. Since the film's Feb. 25 opening, it has earned over $270 million at the box office.
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MARCH, 21.- WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REPORT.
Mel Gibson's "The Passion" took in $19.2 million, slipping to second place after three straight weekends on top, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"The Passion" raised its domestic total to $295.3 million since opening Feb. 25. The movie passed "The Sixth Sense," which earned $293.5 million.
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MARCH, 24.- MEL'S BASH.
Mel's party re-scheduled
Was it the host or the hassle? On March 19, Mel Gibson, 48, was slated to host a benefit for two organizations in which he's actively involved -- the Malibu Foundation for Youth and Families and the Sheridan Arts Foundation. But eight days before the fundraiser, the event was postponed, says a source affiliated with the gala. "Not enough people responded," says the source, adding, "some people said they weren't interested in going because Mel was going to be there." The source explains, "There seems to be a backlash to him because of The Passion [of the Christ]." Still, the source acknowledged that some "people from Malibu probably didn't want to go [the nearly 40 miles] to Hollywood," where the party was slated to take place. Another source says that when it is rescheduled "it will be in Malibu."
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MARCH, 24.-French theater chain: 'Passion' is 'fascist'.
PARIS, France -- One of France's leading independent cinema groups has refused to program Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which it has branded "fascist propaganda."
"I refused to program the film in my network of theaters," MK2 president Marin Karmitz said in a written statement forwarded to The Hollywood Reporter. "I have always fought against fascism, notably through my exhibition activity. For me, 'Passion' is a film of fascist propaganda."
Karmitz's MK2, which also is involved in film distribution, runs one of Paris' leading art-house circuits with 58 screens across 10 cinemas.
"Passion" is due to be released March 31 in France by Quinta Distribution.
Quinta said Monday that all other exhibitors in France have shown strong interest in the picture, which is likely to open with about 480 prints.
"Passion" drew widespread media comment in France when it bowed in the United States, but so far, this has not translated into concrete protests or outright condemnation from those who have seen the film. Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church here attended a special screening and are reported to have considered it "a challenge." Representatives of Jewish groups are due to screen the film this week at various private sessions organized by Quinta.
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APRIL, 11.-Mel, Ambassador.
Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts and Mel Gibson are amongst thirty-four actors and directors signing up to be ambassadors for a non-profit organisation Australians in Film. Their aim is to promote local product in Hollywood.
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APRIL, 20.- TV NETWORKS COOL ON 'PASSION'.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Despite being the year's biggest box-office blockbuster so far, "The Passion of the Christ" seems unlikely to find a home on the four biggest broadcast networks.
Mel Gibson's Icon Productions has been shopping the movie to TV. Only ABC has confirmed turning it down, but executives speaking on condition of anonymity said it was doubtful for CBS, NBC and Fox, too.
The movie's graphic scenes of Jesus Christ's crucifixion were said to make broadcasters skittish, particularly in the post-Janet Jackson era when government officials are closely watching what goes on television.
"There might be a lot of baggage because of the violence," said Brad Adgate, an analyst for the ad buying firm Horizon Media. "That can put some pressure on advertisers not to buy this."
The Hollywood agent who's offering a licensing deal to networks on behalf of Icon, Jeff Berg, would not comment on any negotiations.
There's a chance that some of the initial network coolness toward proposals by "Passion" producers could simply be a negotiating tactic.
The movie has also reportedly been shopped to pay cable networks, where content would not be much of an issue.
Brent Bozell, the founder of the conservative media watchdog group, the Parents Television Council, said if broadcast networks turned down "The Passion" because of disturbing scenes, "then there is rampant hypocrisy in the halls of Hollywood.
"There doesn't seem to be a problem with other violent content, The movie "may be violent, but it is also one of the most beautiful, powerful and instructive movies ever made," Bozell said.
He said the PTC wouldn't endorse or oppose putting "The Passion" on television.
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APRIL, 28- MEL HEEDS THE WARRIOR CALL.
It's now become a long running gag that sometimes a number of people in Hollywood all seem to have the same idea and a number of competing projects get greenlit with the same story or subject. It was asteroids hitting the Earth, Alexander the Great, Napolean, and even competing TV shows about ancient Rome. Now it's some millennia old she-bitch from England who has suddenly spurred on FOUR competing films.
Boudica was a warrior Celt who battled the Romans in Britain in the 9th century. She was posthumously named England's first queen, and Mel Gibson is the latest person to want to make a movie about her, his being called Warrior.
Mel's producing, along with Icon partner Bruce Davey. The film will follow Boudica's rise from a peasant girl to a warrior princess. Looks like a return to Braveheart territory for Mel, even though more Biblical epics are possibly in the works.
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'PASSION' TO DEBUT ON DVD AUG. 31.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" will be released on DVD on Aug. 31.
The actor-director's company, Icon Productions, announced Monday that it has partnered with 20th Century Fox for the home-video distribution.
Gibson's company couldn't persuade any of the major Hollywood studios, including Fox, to distribute the movie, which was released in theaters on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday on the Roman Catholic calendar.
It became the year's biggest blockbuster so far, earning a place among the top 10 highest-grossing movies of all time with more than $368 million at the North American box office.
Although Fox passed on the theatrical distribution of the film, the studio exercised its "first look deal" with Gibson's company that put it at the head of the line among those who wanted to distribute the DVD.
Asked if the movie's box-office success was a motivator for Fox's DVD interest, Steve Feldstein, spokesman for Fox Home Entertainment, would only say: "We enjoy a strong relationship with Mel Gibson and everybody at Icon."
Besides the film's violent content, some Jewish organizations objected to the movie, starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, fearing it would spark a rise in anti-Semitism by blaming ancient Jewish people for killing Christ.
Filmed in Aramaic and Latin, the movie will be presented with English subtitles on VHS and English and Spanish subtitles on DVD.
Feldstein said there will not be any extra features.
"For the consumers and fans of the film, it's going to simply be the film," he said Monday.
As to whether another version would be released in the future with extra features such as behind-the-scenes footage and commentary audio tracks, Feldstein said: "I wouldn't rule it out."
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MAY 24.-THE PIRACY OF THE CHRIST.
It hardly seems like the most Christian-like thing to do, but online movie pirates set a record in April by downloading Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ 36,693 times in April, according to the piracy tracking firm BayTSP. According to CEO Mark M. Ishikawa, copies of the movie have been circulating on several Internet file-sharing sites. However it took two full days after the film's theatrical release before the movie showed up online. (Ordinarily movies are posted within hours after they're screened.) Ishikawa told today's (Thursday) Wall Street Journal that he wasn't sure if the delay stemmed from beefed-up security at theaters, or a breakdown of Christian resolve.
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MAY 24.-GIBSON TURNS HIS FOCUS TO TV.
Leading the way for UPN is Kevin Hill , a one-hour drama starring Taye Diggs as a hotshot attorney who gives up his swingin' bachelor lifestyle to raise his baby niece. The show is produced by Mel Gibson.
The recent spurt of TV activity is notable for Gibson's Icon Productions given that its previous major TV credit was coproducing a 2000 ABC movie about the Three Stooges. The 15-year-old company Gibson launched with longtime business partner Bruce Davey is producing a TV movie about 1970s daredevil Evel Knievel. The company also is behind a drama pilot for CBS called "Clubhouse," about life in Major League Baseball told from the viewpoint of a bat boy.
All told, Icon has series pilots at ABC, CBS, plus the Knievel movie for cable network TNT. Although there's no guarantee that the pilots will wind up on fall schedules, Gibson is undoubtedly getting more serious about his small-screen ambitions.
Davey said any link between the publicity bonanza for "Passion" and Icon's current TV push is purely coincidental. He noted that the company three years ago hired an experienced TV executive to develop projects and that it's taken this long to find some promising properties.
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