Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson defended by gay adopted brother
Sibling interview fails to answer the question: If the star is so tolerant, why does he say such terrible things?
Topics: Celebrity, LGBT, Mel Gibson, Movies
Mel Gibson in "What Women Want." Mel Gibson may have permanently sundered his relationship with the American public after half a decade of bad publicity – including a famous anti-Semitic tirade after being pulled over for drunken driving in Malibu and the leaked audiotapes in which he threatened ex Oksana Grigorieva with physical violence (with some racial slurs thrown in for good measure) — but there is still at least one person in the world willing to defend the actor’s honor. That would be Andrew Gibson, 43: Mel’s gay adopted brother.
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
Jodie Foster distances herself from Mel Gibson
The actress tones down her admiration for her movie's troubled star. Is it a smart move?
Topics: Mel Gibson, Television
It’s been a while since Jodie Foster has touched on the subject of Mel Gibson — and in that time, it looks like she got herself a mini version of the ten-foot pole the rest of the industry has been using on him. On “Letterman” Thursday night, the actress/director, promoting her new movie “The Beaver,” could not have been more uncomfortably restrained in her assessment of her leading man. Foster, who back in March was gushing, teary-eyed, to the Hollywood Reporter that “God, I love that man,” still had kind words for the actor. She told Letterman, “He’s very good in the movie; he’s a very good friend,” and didn’t hesitate to declare, again, “He’s wonderful in the movie.”
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Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.
The role Mel Gibson was born to play
The actor's performance in "The Beaver" is peculiar, disturbing -- and utterly brilliant
Topics: Mel Gibson, Movies, Our Picks
Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson in "The Beaver" Even before Mel Gibson’s most recent set of personal and legal difficulties — i.e., the “revelation” that he sometimes behaves like an unbelievable prick, and may be dangerously unstable — “The Beaver” was always going to be a weird footnote to his career. But both within the universe of Hollywood and the universe of the film, there was a logic to it: Take an immensely gifted actor, once a dominant star but now viewed as a bigot and a wacko, and unleash him on a dark, ambitious script about a character suffering a schizophrenic breakdown. Add the fact that Gibson’s director and co-star is perhaps the most respected woman in the film industry and roll the dice; if producer Steve Golin was imagining a possible upside of “Being John Malkovich” or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” here, it’s no wonder, since he helped make those movies too.
Continue Reading CloseMel Gibson says he was “betrayed”
The actor begins his image rehabilitation with a new interview -- and still doesn't get it
Topics: Charlie Sheen, Chris Brown, Mel Gibson, Movies
Mel Gibson appears at Los Angeles Airport Courthouse Friday, March 11, 2011, in Los Angeles where Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor spousal battery charge. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to attend 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling. Gibson, 55, was accused of striking then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva during a fight in January 2010 at the actors Malibu home. He was charged after a lengthy investigation by authorities. (AP Photo/Mark Boster/Pool)(Credit: Mark Boster) He’s back. With his new movie, “The Beaver,” just weeks away from release, Oscar-winning hothead and domestic abuser Mel Gibson is at last on the full career rehab track, granting Deadline his first interview since a series of explosively vitriolic, threatening conversations with his ex Oksana Grigorieva emerged a year ago. Though he’s a long way from the sputtering loon of the tapes and says “of course” he regrets what he said on them, the real revelation of the interview is how easy it appears for Gibson to believe he’s a victim too.
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Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.
Why are Christian movies so awful?
As "Soul Surfer" demonstrates, "faith-based" movies are a boom industry. Do they have to be so lame?
Topics: Mel Gibson, Movies, Religion
Stills from "Soul Surfer," "The Passion of Christ," "Fireproof" When a star teenage surfer named Bethany Hamilton lost her left arm in a 2003 shark attack, and then got back on her surfboard just three weeks later, you could hear another species of shark — the ones from Hollywood, who turn dramatic real-life events into movies — swimming to the scene. Not only did Hamilton’s story have an attractive and charismatic central character, it also came with a moral message attached and (to think more cynically) a much-desired target demographic. Hamilton’s family were evangelical Christians who understood what had happened to Bethany as a personal and providential test of faith, and also saw it as an opportunity to testify to the wider world.
Continue Reading CloseMel Gibson cops to domestic abuse
The actor is set to enter a plea of no contest -- but will it kill his career?
Topics: Mel Gibson, Movies
Actor Mel Gibson watches the Los Angeles Lakers play the Chicago Bulls in their NBA basketball game in Los Angeles November 18, 2007. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES)(Credit: © Lucy Nicholson / Reuters) You’ll soon be free to officially refer to him as a domestic abuser. Mel Gibson, Oscar winner, Jew blamer and king of bad breakups, is set to plead no contest today to a misdemeanor count of domestic violence in Los Angeles court. It was a defensive move for the hotheaded former Sexiest Man Alive, currently embroiled in a child custody dispute with his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. He had been expected to be formally charged this week with misdemeanor battery against Grigorieva for a 2010 incident in which he allegedly punched her in the face during an argument. In court papers last year, Gibson insisted he only slapped Grigorieva “with an open hand in an attempt to bring her back to reality” as she held their baby daughter, Lucia — a slap that was apparently forceful enough to knock out her veneers. And in one of their infamous telephone conversations, Grigorieva says, “You were hitting a woman with a child in her hands … Breaking her teeth, twice, in the face, what kind of man is that?” To which the gentleman alleged to be Gibson answers, “You fucking deserved it.”
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Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.
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