Mel Gibson campaigns for new movie, against Iraq war ("human sacrifice")

[DeepModem Mom]

Reuters: Mel campaigns for new movie, against war in Iraq
Sun Sep 24, 2006

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mel Gibson has returned to the spotlight to promote his upcoming movie "Apocalypto," and to criticize the war in Iraq, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Almost two months after he railed against Jews when he was arrested for driving drunk in Malibu, the actor made a surprise appearance Friday at Fantastic Fest, an event in Austin, Texas, devoted to new science fiction, horror and fantasy films, the trade paper said in its Monday edition.

He presented a work-in-progress screening of his Mayan adventure tale, and then took questions. About one-third of the full house gathered for the film gave him a standing ovation. The film is scheduled for a December 8 release via Disney.

In describing its portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," drawing parallels between the Mayan civilization on the brink of collapse and America's present situation. "What's human sacrifice," he asked, "if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"...

***

Gibson's appearance at the festival, co-founded by Harry Knowles, was reminiscent of a similar appearance he made at Knowles' Butt-Numb-a-Thon, which offered one of the first public previews of "The Passion of the Christ."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2006-09-25T031220Z_01_N24227883_RTRUKOC_0_US-GIBSON.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

[brentspeak]

1. Thumbs up for Mel Gibson

He was speaking out against the war over a year ago, in fact.

[WindRavenX]

3. he's still a colossal ass and an anti-choice zealot

:thumbsdown: to him. I don't want to be associated with him-- even if he's on our side on this one issue.

[geek tragedy]

4. That, and he's batshit insane.

Makes Tom Cruise seem normal.

[WindRavenX]

6. lol, that's pretty insane

:D

[geek tragedy]

7. The Jews made Tom Cruise jump on the couch.

Well, if they're responsible for all the wars, why not Tom Cruise?

[WindRavenX]

8. Hey, I doubt my Jewish friends want to be credited for Tom Cruise

:P

[geek tragedy]

9. Nobody's in a hurry to be associated with Tom nowadays.

Well, Jamie Foxx was on Monday Night Football, but who really believed that?

[Benhurst]

16. Makes Tom Cruise seem normal?

That's being a bit harsh, isn't it?

:rofl:

[calimary]

36. Well, even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Mel's our new broken clock.

AND it is a worthy parallel - after all, "what's human sacrifice," he asked, "if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"...

That's an excellent point. I don't care who it comes from at the moment. Some souls CAN be saved.

[sueh]

12. His movie is being released by Disney...

sorry, Mel, my hubby and I will not be seeing it.

[NotGivingUp]

76. Released by Disney? That says it all. I will NOT see it.

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

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[JoFerret]

62. Ridiculous

That's rather like touting a stopped clock for telling time perfectly twice a day.

Edit: Oops! calimary got there first with the analogy. But it's still a good one.

"What? Can the devil speak true?"

[geek tragedy]

2. Okay, all progressives should steer way the hell clear

of Mel, even if he's right on the Iraq war. He's like a crazy version of Pitchfork Pat Buchanan.

[BlueSpark]

69. Correct, steer clear.

For those of you who think that this is a new direction for Mel, a word of caution: why does he oppose the war? If it's because he thinks it is a war propogated by "the Jews" (the view of a small number of war opponents, both on the right and the left), then this is just the same old Mel.

[Guaranteed]

5. I think he should just leave the politics alone for awhile.

Just relax, man. Move the Bahamas (I guess after your court date), enjoy your money.

[fujiyama]

63. Doesn't he own an island somewhere?

Or in his mind is Malibu that island "I OWN MALIBU!!!".

He's he's pretty fuckin crazy.

[Charlie Brown]

10. Why the hell is Harry Knowles giving this guy a platform for his film?

Knowles runs Aintitcoolnews, for anyone who doesn't know, and has described himself as a liberal.

[geek tragedy]

11. Knowles is first and foremost a self-promoter.

The more attention he gets, the better.

[DerBeppo]

22. because...

as it stands, the movie may actually be quality. i refuse to treat artists i disagree with politically like freepers do.

[MannyGoldstein]

13. Coming Next From Mad Mel: Jewholio

Starring Beavis as a confused Hassidic Jew who inadvertantly starts a Holy War while trying to learn the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

"I AM JEWHOLIO! I NEED LATKES FOR MY PIE-HOLE."

[Jackpine Radical]

59. Has he got a role in mind for Kinky Friedman?

[lvx35]

14. That's a good metaphor he's got though...

Iraq war as human sacrifice...I've never seen it like that, but its very true.

[Mr_Spock]

15. This is bizarre.

Is he coming or going?

[Neshanic]

17. "A third gave him a standing ovation". Rather scary sight that.

Of course he has returned, like some disease. He's got a movie to pitch, and a lot of ass-kissing to do.

Is he on leave from re-hab? He is supposed to be somewhere drying out, right?

[bamacrat]

18. Bet he'll run for office.

[JVS]

19. Hmmm, not too keen on this one I must say

:popcorn:

[w4rma]

20. Good. (nt)

[rainbow4321]

21. Showed up in a mask and wig in Oklahoma...

No, really.

http://kotv.com/news/?111536

Actor and director Mel Gibson visits two Oklahoma towns this week to attend screenings of his new movie, "Apocalypto." Gibson did not make a public appearance during screenings held at the Riverwind Casino in Goldsby and Cameron University in Lawton.

Gibson did not make a public appearance during screenings held at the Riverwind Casino in Goldsby and Cameron University in Lawton.

At the entrance of the casino, where the film was shown Friday to a mostly American Indian audience, reporters were kept behind partitions.

Cameron spokeswoman Amber McNeil says Gibson arrived at the university on Thursday morning wearing a mask and wig so he wouldn't be noticed.

[ConcernedCanuk]

23. ANYONE that will speak, write, make movies against the Iraq invasion

.
.
.

gets my support and blessings

I could care less if they shit on my head yesterday

The Iraq War created by the United States PNACers is one of the most despicable military adventures in history

Go Mad Max!

[symbolman]

24. Fuck that goddam Holocaust denier

jew hating, Fake Christian loving, money grubbing, Disney Licking son of a bitch.

He's batting a big fat ZERO with me.

I don't watch Schwarzenegger movies, nor Ben Stein, nor, Cruise, Bruce Willis, or any other ratfucker rich assholes version of fake reality - I won't give them a DIME, and I won't let TIVO see me recording or watching them or any of those stations, including FOX, etc.

These assholes need to take their money and go start a FUCKHEAD Nation somewhere else where they can deny Pain, and Suffering, and the Holocaust itself, and that's coming from a CATHOLIC, of Irish Heritage with some American Indina tossed in.

Eat SHIT MEL GIBSON.

[leesa]

25. Good for him. Anyone speaking out against the illegal war in Iraq is good

news to me.

[CJCRANE]

26. The Iraq war is not "human sacrifice"...

it's just a "comma", according to *.

[lvx35]

39. How do you ask a man...

...to be the last one to die for a comma?

[tanyev]

27. LOL! He's officially fallen off his Freeper pedestal.

Go to hell, Mel, you are nothing more nor less than the rest of the liberal and greedy Hollywood opportunists.

You Suck!

The SOB is no longer entertaining.

I'm sick of creeps like this. It's one thing to say that you don't agree with the reason we went to war, but to claim that we're there for no reason, like we're having our soldiers and Iraqis die because we got up out of bed one day and said, "How about a war, eh?" is beyond sick.

Clearly Mel is a very sick man. I'm not kidding. hink the screw has officially fallen out.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1707641/posts

[zanne]

28. This is why we can't have heroes anymore...

There's so much opportunism out there. So many celebrities who profess to believing in something gain followers and big box office returns, only to change their positions when they've exhausted one side of a controversy. Then they go to the other side to squeeze what financial gain they can from them. Whenever I'm tempted to put my faith is somebody, I remind myself of the opportunism and their bottom line.

[lvx35]

40. He probably got pretty humbled.

Buying into his dad's anti-semetic bullshit, and then actually having to face modern jews and historical truths after screaming about it. When you see that you can be that wrong, it tends to make one look around a bit.

[KittyWampus]

42. and maybe he took advantage of his scandal to grow past his prejudices

[ForFuxakes]

29. I'm Fucked

"No one wants to work with me because they think I'm crazy...or they don't want to work with me because they think I'm faking it to draw a pension...so either way I'm fucked" Loose quote from Lethal Weapon...

For all the times I've heard progressives on this board condemming GB for not being able to change his mind, it sure smacks of hipocracy to see a lot of people hear accusing Mel of being opportunistic. Oh thats right when a freeper accuses the Big Dog of wagging the dog, I.e. being opportunistic you give them hell...

Just sayin' you can not have it both ways. Other than a druken tirade...what has mel done that is so so bad?

Remember, Clinton had some fun in the Oval Office, but we still (most of us) love the guy...forgive and forget the little things folks...

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ForFuxakes]

32. Ummm....ok

What do the number of my posts have to do with anything. Simply because I recently started positng, does that mean I have nothing to offer? That's right...attack the messenger...

[Javaman]

34. You'll build up a lot of scare tissue before you hit 1000 posts...

BTW welcome to DU. :) Have fun and snark back at the lame-o. :)

[lvx35]

41. Welcome to DU! And good point.

Yeah, we all screw up...and I think Mel screwed up in a big way, spewing a lot of hate. But sometimes its the biggest screw-ups that humble us in the most positive ways and open our eyes to the truths of what's going on.

[fujiyama]

64. Second time on DU I've heard someone equating sex with racism!

WTF!?

Mel Gibson is loony. There are some crazy fuckin people out there that oppose the Iraq war...including David Duke and Pat Buchanan...

Just because I oppose it as well, doesn't mean he's on my side.

[EarthNeedsHope]

31. He's always BEEN antiwar

If you guys gave him an honest hearing and didn't continue to demonize him you may've seen that.

[cali]

33. He's a bigot.

He's anti-choice. He made a vile picture; that perfect bouquet of violence, "The Passion". I don't give a shit that he agrees with me about the war, he's still repellent.

[EarthNeedsHope]

38. Ok, but he's antiwar

Something DU has not realized. He's been antiwar since the onset.

[w4rma]

72. Yup. He has never, to my knowledge, supported the Iraq War.

And he has always been skeptical of the Bush administration, also.

[samsingh]

35. well must agree on this movie

[rodeodance]

44. Mel Gibson in Texas, criticizes Iraq war

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060925/ap_en_ot/people_gibson;_ylt=Ak4EMRoTI5B7Efiqzpme6TKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

Mel Gibson in Texas, criticizes Iraq war

1 hour, 38 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Actor-director
Mel Gibson criticized the war in
Iraq while promoting his new film "Apocalypto" at a Texas film festival.


Gibson, 50, drew parallels between the collapsing Mayan civilization depicted in the movie and the current situation in the United States, the Hollywood Reporter said Monday.

"The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," Gibson said after the work-in-progress screening in Texas.

"What's human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?" he said..........

[saracat]

45. Who cares? STFU Mel!

[NoAmericanTaliban]

46. Now that he is sober - he doesn't like Bush anymore?

Wonder what the fundies will thing of this. Sure they are going crazy right now.

[underpants]

47. He said the same thing a few years ago when F9/11 was out

when neither he nor Moore got Oscar nods for best picture (when they both easily could have gotten them in documentary and foreign language categories which would have set up the HUGE-MEL vs. MICHAEL thing) Mel was asked about F9/11 and he said "I thought it was great. No one has still explained to me why we invaded Iraq or what we are still doing there"

I got NO --ZERO mention in the press.

[Generator]

48. Damn! Mel is looking hot again

:hangover:

[Scout]

57. yes, not too bad indeed for a middle aged fart n/t

[Ignacio Upton]

49. The enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend in this case

He doesn't like Bush, fine. But Ahmadinejad, Robert Mugabe and Kim Jong Il don't like Bush either, and that doesn't mean they aren't scum-bags in their own rights.

[MisoWeaver]

50. Mugabe! You said it. What an asshat!

[Captain Hilts]

51. Mel's family moved to Australia because of the Vietnam War.

They actually have a long record of being pacifists.

Except for all those violent movies Mel makes, of course.

[Kolesar]

53. Gallipoli was a great anti war movie. Featured Mel Gibson.

It was about the botched attack on the Turks during WW1 that resulted in huge casualties for the Australian troops.

[Captain Hilts]

54. Yes, and I've been to Gallipoli. But the others....nt

[Kolesar]

61. The Year of Living Dangerously, costarring Sigourney Weaver

...with that excellent score by Vangelis. The actor who played the local revolutionary activist did a great job. She was very inspiring.

[NOLADEM]

52. I wonder if anyone told him

that Bush is fighting that war in order to provoke Armageddon for wing-nuts just like him.

[Scout]

58. someone correct me if i'm wrong....

but Catholics aren't "waiting for armageddon" like fundy Christians. Mel is very Catholic, old school Catholic.

[FoxOnTheRun]

55. Charlie Sheen, Gibson and Lincklater are against NWO

Charlie Sheen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s995tPl-zU

Lincklater
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000500/


Bruce Willis is a sissy, although he now knows what is going on he won't get out to the public

[PurityOfEssence]

56. Give credit where credit is due

Blockheaded black-and-white thinking is tiresome. It's amazing how many people on this board can't accept the complexity of life and individuals. Just because you like someone for some trait doesn't mean that person is smart, pretty, convivial, has a great voice, is a caring individual and everything else. It's tiresome to hear people on this board dismiss Cheney and Rumsfeld as stupid; they're dicks, but they smart dicks.

As for Gibson, there are many issues to take up with him, but he's been pretty damned consistent with his politics and he's a very valuable force here. Yes, he's an anti-semite. Yes, he's more than a tad misogynistic. Yes, he's a habitual drunk and a drunk driver. Yes, he depicted everyone who didn't believe in Christ as grotesque people: either mentally deficient, physically ugly, drunk or otherwise unsavory. (That last one is my beef, and I wish people had zeroed in more on that.) Yes, he believes in a cultish primal version of Catholicism. Yes, he's a bit of a homophobe.

Okay, all that adds up to quite a bit that goes against most of what matters to me, but the guy still deserves some slack for a few extremely good traits that are also rather rare among the human race. He hates the fiscal conservative monarchists who run this country and isn't afraid to buck them. He puts his money where his mouth is. He believes in conspiracy theories and has no compunction about saying so. He treats his employees and co-workers very well.

Apolypto was designed from the beginning as an allegory to warn us and accuse the Bush Administration. He's doing this out of a true conviction and doing so with his own money. If that's not something we should all be happy with, then bitterness, shortsightedness or addle-headed lack of mental capacity is getting in the way.

He didn't write, produce or direct "Conspiracy Theory", but he starred in it and was an avid supporter and key element in the project. Think about it.

Give the devil his due.

[Jackpine Radical]

60. Thank you.

[fujiyama]

65. Wow he questioned the Iraq war?!

Big fuckin deal - A disaster that has the support of maybe a third of the US at this point. Now, to his credit he has opposed it for a while. Now why he opposed it is important though - did he oppose it because he felt it was morally wrong or other reasons, or because he felt it was a plot by Jews to take over the middle east (the David Duke theory).

Tom Cruise could go jumping on couches claiming how much he hates Bush and I still wouldn't give a shit. I still wouldn't go see his movie. At this point, they seem so self absorbed, it's be difficult sitting for several hours dealing with their crappy acting.

At this point, the public has probably had enough of both Mel and Tom. Mel's film will probably do as well as the third MI film, which was a huge letdown for Paramount.

[antonialee839]

66. Mel's looking for a lifeline.

[LanternWaste]

67. If I couldn't separate the art from the artist....

I've said it before-- "If I couldn't separate the art from the artist, I'd be one really bored guy."

I was very surprised by, and enjoyed his role in Hamlet; I enjoyed Passion; and chances are, I'll catch Apocalypto either on the big screen if the opportunity arises or on DVD if it doesn't.

It appears to me to be rather small minded to dismiss an artist because I simply disagree with that artist's ideology, politics, world view et.al. To do so seems so very provincial-- in fact, it seems to be precisely the same thing that is preached by the AM Radio demagogues of the Right.

:shrug:

[TheDonkey]

68. uh ooooh I guess FOX news just lost a friend

if he cared about the troops he should give a few more rants about the War and not anti-semetic hate tirades.

[zanne]

70. DUers and Freepers could actually unite on something...

What if DU got together with FR to denounce opportunists like Gibson who try to play both sides of the fence for financial gain? There are so many of us (combined) that a boycott could be effective.

[w4rma]

73. Except Gibson has never supported the Iraq War.

Too many DUers (and Freepers, too) just assume he must have supported it since he lives his life as a social conservative.

[entanglement]

71. Good to hear that

Mel is somewhat crazy, but he's perfectly right about the war :)

[GetTheRightVote]

74. Wow, he is just rolling along thru the Iraq movie does sound interesting

for sure, human sacrifice, hmmmm. sounds like Mel knows what he is talking about on this subject.

:kick:

[GetTheRightVote]

75. Wow, he is just rolling along thru the Iraq movie does sound interesting

for sure, human sacrifice, hmmmm. sounds like Mel knows what he is talking about on this subject.

:kick:

[Strawman]

77. Oh wonderful. Disavowing him will provide another diversion

Anyone who opposes the war loves Mel Gibson and hates Jews by association. :sarcasm:

Go away Mel. If you really oppose the war, please don't try to "help" right now.

[dback]

78. God sure sends us imperfect messengers

Strange, strange man.