Guess This Gibson Holocaust Project is in Turnaround…

From the NY Times, Dec. 6, 2005:

Mel Gibson, whose "The Passion of the Christ" was assailed by critics as an anti-Semitic passion play—and whose father has been on record as a Holocaust denier—has a new project under way: a nonfiction miniseries about the Holocaust.

Mr. Gibson's television production company is developing a four-hour miniseries for ABC based on the self-published memoir of Flory A. Van Beek, a Dutch Jew whose gentile neighbors hid her from the Nazis but who lost several relatives in concentration camps.

More here.

Huff Po-sters Arianna and Ari Emanuel call for Mel "Fucking Jews" Gibson to be exiled from Hollywood here and here. Michael Medved says that there is "no defense and no excuse" for Gibson's comments but an "attempted reconciliation—no matter how tentative, no matter how limited—can only be good for Gibson, and good for the Jews."

Update: Over at Beliefnet, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach says Mel has always been a bigot and can make amends by "re-releasing The Passion of the Christ with an important disclaimer at the very beginning of the film detailing the undisputed historical fact that the Romans killed Jesus, and that any of the Jewish leadership, like Caiaphas the High Priest, who called for Jesus' death were all in the employ of Rome, and indeed served as the Roman police enforcers in Judea."

More Update: Wash Post reports on likely outcome of attempts to ostracize and blacklist Gibson:

"The rule is forgive and forget when you can bring in a film that makes $100 million," one movie insider said.

Film historian David Thomson said Gibson has "been stepping over the line for several years. But the key thing is that he makes money for people and he will not only continue to eat lunch in this town but he will buy lunch."