The Wild Bunch (Mel Gibson, 20XX)

[knives]

Frankly if I wanted to see action scenes shot that way I wish they would hire Ridley Scott instead. Gibson's fairly no talent behind the camera and should just stick to acting.

Interestingly, Tony Scott was apparently slated to direct this remake 7 years ago, before his untimely passing.

That I would have loved to see.
As to the antisemitism question I think it is important to remember that Gibson is not just antisemitic, but also quite anti-black and woman with pack of comments so while disliking Jews is perhaps culturally acceptable to a certain extant he's not getting a free pass just from that.

[KJones77]

I don't get why that now that this announcement has been made, people online (Sarah Silverman, others) are calling him out.

He's racist, sexist, and anti-semitic. No one is denying that, but we have known that for a long time now. He was just celebrated and congratulated two years ago for Hacksaw Ridge while he starred in movies without any fanfare since then. When he was announced as a possible director for Suicide Squad 2, the only reaction I saw online was, "Ugh not a sequel."

The fact he's only facing this backlash now feels more than a little odd and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Warner Bros. is more than a little surprised at the reaction. They probably knew the remake would be a bit controversial, but it certainly seemed like Gibson had largely been forgiven after his time in Hollywood Siberia.

[therewillbeblus]

I can't help but think that the determination for this "free pass" boils down to what is considered an acceptable measure of redemption by the majority of Hollywood. Gibson came out a few years back in an interview talking about maintaining sobriety for over ten years at that point, and while this information certainly doesn't absolve him of responsibility for his actions, it seems to be one of the more measurable forms of rehabilitation through behavior (particularly compared to those recently cast out in the #MeToo movement, for which I can't really think of a starting point for a path to rehabilitation in this climate). Of course none of us know what he's been doing (if anything) to "redeem" himself in the eyes of the industry all these years, and can only speculate and concoct our own narratives shaped by subjective beliefs and personal stakes in the case. I'm certainly not in opposition to opinions expressed in light of this news in this thread and everyone's perspective has been, and is, valid. But, from an objective standpoint, if one believes in rehabilitation I can't think of a more measurable form of evidence that one's attempting to change than being publicly active in the recovery community in Hollywood.

[Dr Amicus]

[

Urgh. I'd rather they asked him to write and direct an original western from scratch.

It may not even be a western, as I believe Warner's scrapped earlier plans for a Wild Bunch "remake" involved a contemporary setting and drug trafficking.

I was thinking of directors I'd have liked to see do this and my first thought was Walter Hill (at least in his prime - I have to admit I haven't seen his post Supernova work) - and then remembered that he had done exactly the above with the underrated Extreme Prejudice.

[Aunt Peg]

Frankly if I wanted to see action scenes shot that way I wish they would hire Ridley Scott instead. Gibson's fairly no talent behind the camera and should just stick to acting.

Interestingly, Tony Scott was apparently slated to direct this remake 7 years ago, before his untimely passing.

That I would have loved to see.
As to the antisemitism question I think it is important to remember that Gibson is not just antisemitic, but also quite anti-black and woman with pack of comments so while disliking Jews is perhaps culturally acceptable to a certain extant he's not getting a free pass just from that.

Gibson is also homophobic.

[tenia]

his time in Hollywood Siberia.

His arrest for DUI (in which he got anti-semitic in front of the officer) was in 2006, his drunk phone call with Grigorieva was in 2010, and the Eszterhas letter about Gibson's racist views was in 2012.
Yet, he was back in business fronting Edge of Darkness in 2010, and having some kind of homage cult roles in Get the Gringo in 2012, Machete Kills and The Expendables 3 in 2013, and in 2016 starred in Blood Father and directed Hacksaw Ridge for a general acclaim that seemed to indicate he only made 4 years in "Hollywood Siberia".

Considering how the public can have much longer grudges for much smaller things, this always seemed like a very short time for me. As domino summed up, he seems to get an easier free pass than many many others.

But then, that never prevented me being curious about Hacksaw Ridge and going and watching it in theaters when it got released.

[dda1996a]

I also found Hacksaw Bridge laughably bad, and while I haven't seen his other films non of them really sound interesting enough. I mean Scorsese made almost all of Gibson's film irrelevant (Last Temptation, and Garfield as jesus in Silence)

[mfunk9786]

And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Hacksaw Bridge

[Tuco]

Oh God no...can't Hollywood just leave it alone? You egg-sucking, chicken-stealing gutter trash!

[whaleallright]

I think Gibson's alcoholism has functioned as a cover for his racism and antisemitism. He can claim—or his supporters and employers can claim—that the latter is a product of the former. That's not true—his racial hatred seems to me deep-seated, more or less constant, and passed down from his father—but it's a convenient alibi, in that he can pop up and say "I'm sober now" and much will be forgiven, until the next time anyhow.

There's a certain integrity in his being cast as a racist cop in Dragged Across Concrete, and I don't really begrudge S. Craig Zahler for casting him, but my major question is, given all that we know about Gibson—not just his racism but the way he often behaves toward his coworkers and colleagues—why would you want to work with him? (To partially answer my own question: in Zahler's case, I would guess his presence made it easier to get funding. And for all I know, Zahler and Vince Vaughn secretly share his views and they can all bro down after shooting to talk about the Kosher konspiracy.)

[mfunk9786]

Michael Mann discussion, particularly that of Public Enemies, move to the Public Enemies thread