Gibson “hates Jews” according to Eszterhas who had been working on script The Macabees with Gibson before their relationship soured and the project was shelved.
Joe Eszterhas claimed in a latter to The Beaver star that the project, about a Jewish man who led a revolt against the Seleucid Empire, was shelved because of Gibson’s anti-Semitic views, even suggesting that Gibson only took on the project in the first place to try to prove that he was not an anti-Semite.
However, in an open letter by way or reply sent to Hollywood website Deadline, Gibson has returned fire saying that the project was not shelved because of any ‘Jew-hating’ on his part but because the script was cack.
In the letter, Gibson explained: “Joe [Eszterhas], not only was your script delivered later than you promised, but both Warner Brothers and I were extraordinarily disappointed with the draft. In 25 years of script development I have never seen a more substandard first draft or a more significant waste of time.”
“Contrary to your assertion that I was only developing Maccabees to burnish my tarnished reputation, I have been working on this project for over 10 years and it was publicly announced 8 years ago. (sic)”
While Gibson has made it difficult to defend himself in recent years, his once golden boy charm fading behind a barrage of drunken outbursts and obscenity, it is quite possible to believe his version of events. Joe is the man behind such silver screen
classics as Basic Instinct, after all.
Photo: Getty.
