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Exclusive: Mel Gibson Finally Talks
The Cannes Film Festival premiere of the Jodie Foster-directed The Beaver just ended, and I’m told that there was a 10-minute standing ovation for the film and its star, Mel Gibson. Gibson missed the press conference earlier today but flew in just in time to support Foster and the film at the premiere. At that press conference, Foster said she made the film with a European sensibility and expected the crowd to be receptive. The film hasn’t performed well in the U.S.
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This is hard to believe, they boo Tree of Life and cheer The Beaver. Those are some strange moviegoers over there. It’s just hard to root for Gibson right now and I’m sure a lot of people in the US are happy to see his movie tank. He’s proven again and again that he’s a hedonistic, loose cannon who’s rantings and ravings are disgusting. Why exactly should we forgive him?
and what does one personnal life has to do with the movie, thank god in europe we don’t give a shit about people personnal life;
if i did i wouldn’t have discovered great autor like racine,celine and others.
Noone is asking you to forgive him or whatever, nowhere in this article did soemeone asked you to forgive him.
The article just stated a fact that people at the screening loved the fucking movie not melgibson life
Don’t you think his disaster of a life caused a poor performance in the US? “The film hasn’t performed well in the U.S.”, humm, wonder why. If it’s suppose to be so darn good, why aren’t people seeing it. Regardless of where you stand on Gibson, US audiences perceptions are changing about him and that does effect O.B. See also: Tom Cruise. Buying a ticket to Te Beaver, given the outing of his personal turmoil would be to support Gibson and I’m not ready to support him. This movie reeks of a comeback vanity vehicle and obviously most people have seen though that. Nobody asked me to forgive him but I’m not buying a movie ticket for one of his movies until I do.
People are not seeing THE BEAVER simply because it has not gotten much of a marketing push. I have not seen one TV spot for the film, and only saw the trailer twice in theaters over the last six months. Beyond that, I’ve seen one banner on a website. No one knows it’s out. Plus, it’s still in limited release. Only 22 theaters. It goes wide this weekend. Yes, some people will not forgive its star, but the man’s work still has a draw if people know it’s out.
Gibson has had a turbulent personal life the past five years, but the assault claims have been dropped, and the comments he’s made in fits of anger have been acknowledged and apologized for. What else can a man do? If you were to push anyone far enough, you’d be stunned at what deplorable statements will emerge from their lips. It’s a human flaw, not just a Mel Gibson one. If any of us were to have ourselves recorded at our darkest moment and then played back to us, we would all find ourselves despicable.
Funny how there wasn’t nearly as big of a stink raised when Kobe Bryant let a gay slur fly on live television with children watching (children who idolize him I might add). Of course, he was in the playoffs then, and LA still had something to gain from him, so the backlash was downplayed. But had it occurred in Game 3 or 4 against the Mavs, I’m sure the outrage would’ve been louder. He was surprisingly not featured in the NBA-sponsored “Think B4 You Speak” TV ad addressing homophobic slurs.
And btw, THE BEAVER was shot almost two years ago, and was in post-production at the time of Mel’s problems. This is not a hand-crafted comeback vehicle. It was his next film regardless, as is his other film, HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION, which is in post right now.
yeah if you want to draw people to see a movie, you have to have good tv spots. I haven’t seen a single tv spot for this film, has anyone?
Yes, also, Gibson shot the Beaver long before his latest and most devastating rants were made public. The film was long in the can by then. So thinking he made the film in an effort to repair his image is simply not true, as the timeline doesn’t work to support that argument.
Who are you that you are above reproach? You need forgiveness just as much as him or any of us. None of us are perfect. He just happens to be in the spotlight and got a scheming golddigger pregnant. Yet she is not beyond forgiveness herself.
I love it when people who say not to pass judgement on public figures and then pass judgement themselves on someone lower down the ladder. “Scheming golddigger?”
!! What you say!
(please note: Not all Americans are narrow minded bigots)
Like it or not, an overexposed personal life does get in the way of being able to enjoy an actor’s performance. To get lost in a movie, you have to be able to see beyond the actor, and if he’s been in your face, saying outrageous things, it’s hard to separate that when you sit down in a theater. I can’t speak for Europeans of course, but I’d wager there the populace has not been subjected to the excessive amount of Mel Gibson press those of us in the U.S. have had to endure, whether we seek it out or not.
At this point, Mel has offended large swaths of the U.S. population. He offended progressives and the Jewish community with the historically inaccurate Passion, not to mention his subsequent racially charged, anti-Semitic rants (which kinda undercut his assertion during the Passion release that he wasn’t an anti-Semite). He’s offended women and decent human beings everywhere with his gross phone recordings, and now he stars in a dark movie that in no way will be well-received by the die-hard evangelicals who defended him in the first place.
Glad to see that Jodie Foster and some people in Europe don’t let these things get in the way. No one is 100% bad, and I feel sorry for him because he seems miserable, but people demanding that viewers not let an actor’s baggage get in the way of their ability to entertain are guilty of wishful-thinking.
Concerning the movie The Passion, the only real inaccuracy was leaving out the scripture quote from Matthew 27:25 “Then answered all the people, and said His blood be upon us, and on our children.” It’s not about Jews, its about religion. Jesus’ sacrifice, then Victory over Hell, Death and the grave, freed us from religious laws. He gave us a higher standard to live by. Life in Christ/Messiah Jesus.
I agree! Its nobodies business what Mel does personally, or any other star…
Europeans have it correct or whoever posted this comment. I look forward to seeing the Beaver and look forward to Gibson’s return!
Thank God, indeed! Yep, Europeans don’t attach much importance to people’s “personal lives”, as evidenced by the support for Dominique Strauss-Kahn after that unpleasantness in New York.
Yeah, we know about Europeans and their indifference to people’s personal life. Well, at least *certain* people’s personal lives. Droit de Seigneur and all that….
See: Strauss-Kahn, Dominique (and his personal life, PAST as well as present *ahem* “difficulties”). LOL
i completely agree. he’s got way too many scandals for me to take him seriously as an actor anymore. now when i see him onscreen, i don’t see him as the character he played, i just see his crazy mug shot and hear his lunatic hateful rant. no redemption whatsoever, even if he’s trying to be cute talking to a beaver and all.
After a bit of thought, I knew I remembered the BIGOT Ed from somewhere. In an earlier thread, Ed claimed that only Jews understood racism and basically, other people haven’t suffered because, well, they’re not Jewish. Put it another way, only the pain of Jews matter.
“If you were Jewish, I think you’d feel differently. But since you’re not, you don’t understand what bigoted hatred means.” (Comment by Ed — Thursday April 21, 2011 @ 7:30pm PDT)
Of course, Ed doesn’t believe in “redemption” because he’s a hateful guy. It’s very revealing that Mel Gibson’s opponents can be so intolerant themselves…
As European, I totally understand what happened. The tree of life was expected to be a philosophical reflexion about existence and instead many of them (european critics) saw an hour long montage of beautiful images with religious projections. Truth be told I’ve read many american critics and they rated the movie as B. Not quite the master piece everybody was expecting. As for Mel Gibson and The Beaver, I’m not judging the person, that’s the judge and american justice task. For the artist, he developes a fantastic performance. Jodie Foster is right, the film has an european feeling but I’d say no matter where you come from, if you focus in the work they did the ovation was totally deserved.
Cause his personal life has nothing to do with what a brilliant actor he is. dismissed.
Let’s be honest here a moment, the studio didn’t even promote THE BEAVER in it’s American release because they want Gibson gone.
You can’t piss off the Jews in this town without expecting a little, career-ending backlash.
We own the joint. Ask anybody.
Gibson. Gone. Good riddance.
How many of the people who are not forgiving would analyze Mel Gibson the way Jesus did “DISMAS” at his cruxcifiction?
Hopefully it does well abroad, great film.
I don’t think anyone ever questioned Mel’s talent as an actor/director. It’s just too bad we’ll never forget he’s an angry, violent, hate-filled man.
as if there isn’t 100s of those in power positions in Hollywood; he, sadly and unfortunately, had his inner strife exposed
and you know that from where? your little finger or the national enquier? sorry radar of lies.
We should all hope to aspire to be so. Haven’t you ever seen Network? “First, you’ve got to get MAD!”
Looks like he’s found his niche. Maybe he should move there.
I believe that his personal life has nothing to do with the movies he makes. I hope “The Beaver” opens up in my theater.
Hollywood has forgiven and defended Roman Polanski for his behaviors. Hedonistic loose cannons are part of the Hollywood scene. Talent is what counts in the long run, wouldn’t you say?
That is the part that most perplexes me. Roman Polanski drugs and sodomizes an underage girl and then flees the country but is honored and pardoned in Hollywood, but Mel Gibson who had a fit of rage and said some hate-filled comments is close to black listed from most of the Hollywood brass? How does that make any sense?
Unless of course, it’s not WHAT you do that matters, it’s who you do it too.
Roman Polanski = unknown girl
Mel Gibson = racist comments to…
Why shouldn’t we?
Mel Gibson is not asking for forgiveness, he’s a man getting on with his job, and doing it well.
Rumor has it that Summit has killed all remaining press and promo screenings for the film in the U.S. Ouch!
Film won’t even hit the 1 mil mark domestic.
But they already got the money recouped in foreign presales. So they are fine. It will be seen more on video. I think it’s funny everyone’s acting like it grossed 300,000 in wide release when it hasn’t even been released wide yet. No one talks about the averages for Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke’s recent films, which were much worse. Not every small film does Black Swan kind of business, especially at this time of year.
I’m glad he got the response he did. Because its seems like there’s a double standard when it comes to Mel. Because people continue to support Roman Polanski, eventhough he raped a teen. Call me crazy but i think rape is worst then a few stupid words. If you dont agree, your a sick individual.
The so called booing for Tree of Life was at the screening but after the premeire, there was a crazy standing ovation and Malick made an appearance but the camera at some point panned down to a chair but the festival organisers and the actors knew that he was there.
Hey Mr. B, speak for yourself. People are happy Mel is back where he belongs, on the big screen. When he’s away from it for too long that’s when he gets into trouble. THE BEAVER may not be doing well in the good ol’ USA but guess what?… People out there love Mel Gibson. And I AM one of those. I will fight for him forever and I know he will one day redeem himself in the eyes of those who condoned him. He is a versatile artist, and his talent speaks volumes.
We should forgive him because he is HUMAN, just like the rest of us. And if you are human, you are bound to make mistakes. It’s the way our kind is built. His cinematic legacy has done a lot of good for people and entertained us for many years. He is one of the most successful movie stars of all time who transcended what he was great at with his directorial efforts.
If Jesus forgave those who scourged him and tortured him why can’t others be forgiven? Mel Gibson didn’t insult you. He was insulting Oksana who treated him like a buffoon. She’s a professional extortionist and he put her in place but got sideswiped by her. She did the same to Timothy Dalton but kept it quiet for the sake of their son. Mel got the raw deal because of his visibility and who he is.
Jesus was God on Earth, so pardon me if we cannot all achieve such a stardard.
Entertainment is entertainment. In the end it has absolutely nothing to do with being a decent person, even though we would like to think there’s a correlation.
For a person to be forgived, he/she must be truly remorseful. Whether or not that’s the case with Gibson remains to be seen. I would hope so though.
And stop blaming his ex, it’s a rather weak arguement. Gibson is a an adult, and adults do not go blaming their actions on others. If he’s capable of running a multi-million dollar production, then I’m sure he can handle his consequences.
Gregorious II, is there such a word as “forgived?”
Carl Grey, you are crazy but I like your Melitude.
^What he said.
My thoughts exactly. We love you Mel!
So, Europeans are “strange” because their movie taste is not in line with your own?
I don’t think his situation is such “huge news” in Europe. I also do not think it is as sensationalized there as it is over here.
Clearly, they were reacting to his work in the film and the film itself not his personal troubles.
Are they strange because they can separate the two and you cannot? They are not thinking about whether or not they want to support his box office. They simply are thinking whether or not they liked the film and or his performance.
He’s no saint, but there was a measure of set up in this whole debacle with whats her name.
Maybe Europeans are all too familiar with how scheming gold diggers can be.
Again, he’s no saint and he has done other things separate from the whats her name that are quite bad, but artists’ work throughout the ages has been judged by the standards of their art. Van Gogh was a nutter who suffered from Bi Polar disorder. He could be a real @$$hole, but does that make any of his paintings worthy of boos?
hollywood – no one goes after woody allen after he marries his step daughter or roman after he rapes a child or mathew brodrick after he killed a person, the list goes on. so tried of a town will no ethics or morals acting like they need to forgive someone
Wow, so people can distinguish the actor from the man. Finally.
This is surprising. One of the highest critics in the UK, Bradshaw just savaged the film.
“If people have got it in for Mel Gibson, he has only himself to blame. His behaviour has been repulsive. Everyone is prejudiced against his films. I am prejudiced against his films.” – Peter Bradshaw. Friday 05 January 2007.
I wouldn’t take his review seriously. And reading his one star review of Inglourious Basterds after Cannes where he was on this anti-Tarantino bandwagon, plus his recent attacks on the Coen brothers just makes me not take him seriously as one of the “highest film critics”
>>The Beaver might have been interesting if it was boldly, defiantly, autobiographical – with Gibson holding a toy Adolf Hitler puppet. Or if it was about a stressed beaver with a Gibson puppet.<<
yeah, that's exactly what you expect to read from UK's "highest critic" This guy obviously appears to be back in his teenage cynical about everything phase.
Wow…that description fits Charlie Sheen to a T!!!
As I recall, Clerks 2 got a 10-minute standing O too.
So glad for him.
It sickens me that this anti-semetic,lunatic is getting support. I agree that there is a Polanski double standard but c’mon- the man has time and time again shown us what a scumbag he is and continues to get second,third, and fourth chances. It’s a shame because there are a lot of talented, good-hearted people that deserve standing O’s.
Despite what people think of Mel Gibson, The Beaver is a fantastic film with great performances. Kudos to Jodie Foster for getting this to the big screen. We need more fresh films like this and Summit should do their job to get it out there to a wide audience.
This is an interesting intersection as the “we love Mel because fundamentalist Christianity is the bomb” and the “we hate Europe those socialist-fascist Amurica-haters” crowds generally have a lot of overlap. I bet a lot of heads are spinning across the Bible Belt right now. Then of course Europeans don’t think much of the Jews. There’s a common ground for everyone!
How do you boo Terry Malick but cheer Mel Gibson? Already knew the French hated Muslims (burqa ban), apparently they hate Jews too.
Because maybe they thought Terrence Malick’s film was pretentious dreck and they are cheering the Beaver and his great performance, not his personal life. Why do people not understand others who are capable of separating the man from his work?
@David: Really? French people “hate Jews”? Is that why they elected Nicolas Sarkozy, who is of Jewish descent, president? Is that why Sarkozy’s leading opponent in the upcoming presidential race is actually the now embattled IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is also Jewish? Is that why there are people in France who are actually defending Kahn, like former French justice minister Elisabeth Guigou, who called his arrest by the NYPD “a brutality, a violence, of an incredible cruelty”? Yeah, right. Save your lies for Fox News.
People like you are so full of crap that it’s not even funny to point it out anymore. It’s bizarre how your statements become so hyperbolic when it comes to perceived insults against the Jews. Your ignorance is astounding.
Chill out! Mel should be celebrated for good work irrespective of his personal mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Hopefully, he will live a netter
Hopefully he will live a better life in the future!