Will the New Mel Gibson Controversy Wreck Jodie Foster's The Beaver?
I had no doubt that the Mel Gibson/Oksana Grigorieva breakup as going to get ugly, but I guess I didn't quite anticipate it to get this ugly: Radar Online has come into some nasty tirades the actor unleashed on his ex, and it ain't pretty. The centerpiece line -- "You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault" -- has already resuscitated memories of Gibson's infamously anti-Semitic 2006 arrest in Malibu, a blight that caused the actor to disappear from the screen until this year. In fact, 2010 was supposed to herald a comeback for Gibson, thanks to his role in Jodie Foster's quirky comedy The Beaver. Now what?
Though Gibson had tested the waters earlier this year with Edge of Darkness, his first acting role since 2004, The Beaver was meant to mark a critical renaissance for him. Foster cast him in the role of Walter Black, a depressed CEO who finds a new lease on life when he begins to communicate with friends and family via a beaver handpuppet. While Foster has been a longtime friend of Gibson's, the casting was still a gamble; still, the best-case scenario had it that with such an unexpected comic turn, perhaps Gibson could tap into the same vein that Tom Cruise struck with his Les Grossman role in Tropic Thunder (before he drove that shtick into the ground at this year's MTV Movie Awards).
Indeed, it appears Gibson is destined to ape Cruise, but not his brief comedy comeback -- instead, he's recalling the Cruise of Knight and Day, who found that his female audience (so dedicated to him once upon a time) had now deserted him and wasn't coming back.
Summit had scheduled The Beaver for October; will they movie it back to 2011 to let the controversy simmer down some? Or, when it comes to press and promotion, will they employ a very apt gambit and let Gibson do all his talking through the much friendlier avatar of Foster herself?
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Mel Gibson's Racist Rant Caught On Tape - Tells Oksana She Would Get 'Raped By N***ers' [Radar Online]
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
Mel didn't say it, it was the Beaver! THE BEAVER DID IT!
I'm sure Mel still has an audience among white, christian, straight, western males. He's only lost women, jewish, african american, gay and Eastern European viewers in the last few years. Although I'm not really sure how he's keeping the ultra christian white males on his side with all the msyogeny, extra marital affairs and out of wedlock children....Oh, right, we're talking about christian white males! Mel just need to have a torrid affair with a rent boy to really solidify his base.
Way to get it on tape, sugartits!
The scary thing? Mel abuses her directly in violent language (with extra points for racism - Mel's a generous controveneur, he even throws in off-topic value!) and even allegedly might've been physically violent towards her in the past (as referred to in the article). AND TOM CRUISE IS STILL CREEPIER.
The Eighties. We sure knew how to pick 'em, didn't we?
So he's a racist misogynist. In other words, a typical Republican.
"I am going to come and burn the f**king house down... but you will blow me first."
Most folks don't realize this came straight from the Book of Matthew.
They should have kept Steve Carell on board.
This old, drunk, washed-up bigot still has an audience?
I thought "The Beaver" would be a hard sell, even before Mel's latest debacle, as it doesn't seem like the type of film that will appeal to his remaining fan base, which I call "the male chauvenist pig demographic." Didn't Warner Brothers get burned with the under-performing "Edge of Darkness?" That was supposed to be a comeback, following his post 2006 DUI/rant hiatis, and Mel blew it by getting mixed up with Oksana Golddiggereva and messing up his life again. My question is, given the fact that Mel's such a hot mess and loose cannon, why do studios want to invest time and money in any of his projects?
Franklin M. Hart, Jr. just breathed a sigh of relief. Now there's a new "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" in town.
If Mel Gibson really said those things to his ex girlfriend, then that's sad. What's even sadder is that none of us have heard real authentic proof and we've already fried his image. Seriously where's the proof? Who's heard the tapes? This is coming a week after he filed a restraining order against her. Don't believe everything you read.
I don't have the faintest doubt this will all blow over. If you can make money for Hollywood bigwigs, you can drop your pants in Bloomingdale's window and relieve yourself in full view of the public. If you can make money, it doesn't matter what you do - except get caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl. .... They will quietly shelve the brilliant work of art called The Beaver for a year. Then Jodie Foster will hit the publicity trail telling "how far" Mel Gibson has come, what wonders "counselling" has done for him, how "sorry" he is for his shennanigans, how much "work" he's doing with his handlers, how he is hoping and praying his adoring fans will overlook his "poor choice of words in an emotional moment". Then the public will be offered The Beaver, with glowing reviews, and a defiant apology from Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine. (Oh, and in a slow week, there will be a cover story on old Mel in People Mag - "Mel is back! Can he still rule the box office?" as a headline.) They're counting on the apathy and short memories of the public, to forget, to forgive, to overlook, to gently laugh at crazy old Mel, to emphasize his FORMER brilliant career, to soften up the fanbase and make them nostalgic, to get them into the movie theaters out of curiosity.
I think that everyone is blowing this into a tragedy...does one really care what is going on with Mel and one of his sexual endeavors? Did anyone maybe think he is going through mid-life crisis of the 3rd kind? If women can go through menopause..to which they are noted to sometimes kill their husbands..maybe Mr. Gibson is having trouble dealing with his male menopause as well. Trust me...not everything is what it seems. We are on the outside looking in...we know nothing about this woman except she is playing the victim..as most people do in a high society battle. I am not going to say she is just some bimbo wanting to be financially secure...but gold digging is somehow whispered in the ears. Mel is not a racist...he just doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut!
No one knows the entire story. We are only hearing snippets from this woman's side. How do we know she isn't trying to extort him ? Also, like it or not, this was a private conversation that should never have leaked out, and no one, not one person on this planet hasn't said things they may regret in a moment of anger. That's what this is. Dirtbags like Ari Emmanuel and other Hollywood pieces of shit have made it their mission to destroy Mel and his life since the release of "The Passion" - I believe these assholes are behind all of this. They'll stop at nothing to ruin him. I'll be first in line to see "The Beaver" . I don't believe Mel is a hateful guy. He's real and honest and far from perfect. Their is no art without excess. Do you think Van Gogh was drinking Iced Tea when he created all of those masterpieces ? Mel is a tortured genius.
We have a problem. Accusations, made by who, for what. Whether, guilty or innocent, Mel Gigsons career is damaged and Oksana is in for big pay day
Amazing, I definitely love Mel Gibson however My partner and i believe that he's gone way out of bounds this time around with all his ranting as well as raving. He looks like a total insane person!
Mel's wife filed for divorce when she found out about Oksana, but they were already separated. He only has one child born after the divorce was filed. I don't think he is a misogynist. He is controlling. Obviously he is also an alcoholic who turns violent when under the influence.
I would like someone to tell me why Tom Cruise's name is being thrown in with Mel Gibson. What has he done? Why is he disliked by so many posters?
---not true, not nice.
Isn't it one of the things that makes America the greatest country on Earth? Why would you want this to change? I for one am so happy we don't stone wrong-doers to death.
Oksana I believe is using the opportunity that Mel Gibson HANDED her --to move from the status of homewrecker to victim.
I do not believe that fear for her life was the motivation for taping him. Most of the recording is from a phone call--Mel threatens to "come over there" several times.
I also believe she would have documented the beating if it happened, by taking pictures--because of lack of photographic evidence she throws that in there as a question "what kind of man does this"? She does not say why did you do this. She is also talking while he answers --how can we be sure what he answered "you *** deserved it?
I think he turned out to be a raging alcoholic and she had to leave him, but wants him to pay up. She also wanted to make him pay socially too, by leaking the tape and making his use of the word "nigger" its focus. Why isn't the focus on his discovery that she lied about cosmetic surgery.
He was so easy, so darned predictable, he handed his very life almost, on a silver platter!
I really think that Mel Gibson is an unmedicated bipolar and I am SHOCKED at the tapes that have been released, but assuming that this film is still released, I WILL be convincing people to go see it. I may or may not have caught a test screening, and may or may not have LOVED it (with an emphasis on the "LOVED IT" part). I'm just sayin...
What an interesting post. A friend of mine told me about it and I'm glad he did. Keep up the great work. I will be looking forward to more.
Find Out More