Eszterhas: Mel Gibson's just the guy to produce a movie on Judah Maccabee

Writer Joe Eszterhas, who claims to be just a couple of weeks away from completing his script on the Jewish hero Judah Maccabee, says that he's sure Mel Gibson is the right director for the project. Well, pretty sure.

"At one of the early meetings," Eszterhas recalled, "Adam Fogelson, Universal Pictures’ chairman, said to him, 'Why do you want to do this story?' Mel said, 'Because I think I should.' I liked that answer very much." Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the Christ was viewed by many as anti-Semitic and he was quoted in a police report as saying that "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world" during a 2006 drunk driving arrest.

"We both saw it as Mel, maybe from his heart, wanting to do a terrific Braveheart-like movie about Jewish history," said Eszterhas, a Catholic (although not Gibson's kind of Catholic), who professed to have been comfortable working with Gibson despite his problems. 

But Eszterhas hedged his bets by saying that he would reserve final judgment on Gibson's anti-Semitism until after the serial abuser had read his script. "I’ve seen him explode at guests in his houses," Eszterhas said. "And I think that his ex-girlfriend is probably right about one thing: He needs medication. To me, The Passion of the Christ was not anti-Semitic. I loved it. But I am concerned about what he said to the highway patrolman. The answer is going to come when I finish the script and I see his reaction."

Read more via Reuters.