# Mel Gibson making film about Judah Maccabee - this will end well **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723 "2011-09-09T15:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/1 "2011-09-09T15:00:56Z")
From [The Guardian’s article on it](http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/sep/09/mel-gibson-direct-judah-maccabee): > [@The Guardian](#): > > In what is sure to be seen as an increasingly desperate attempt to rehabilitate himself within the Hollywood community, it has been annouced that Mel Gibson may direct and star in a film based on the exploits of legendary Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee. > > Maccabee was the prime mover in the successful 167BC revolt of the Judean state against the Seleucid empire, which had conquered the region at the beginning of the 2nd century BC. The Jewish festival of Hanukah is a commemoration of Maccabee’s restoration of Jewish worship in the temple in Jerusalem in 165BC. In the modern era, Maccabee became a powerful symbolic figure for Zionist campaigners against the British authorities in the run-up to Israeli statehood in 1948. The screenwriter is Joe Eszterhas. Of _Showgirls_ fame. Yes, I said “of _Showgirls_ fame”. What could possibly go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/2 "2011-09-09T15:15:08Z")
😃 I must admit, I’m interested. Should be a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/3 "2011-09-09T15:18:49Z")
I actually think he’s a pretty decent director, if _Apocalypto_ and _Braveheart_ are any indication. I think it’s kind of weird to cast yourself as the star of a movie you’re making and yeah, it’s funny that he’s going to play a Jewish hero, but I don’t think it’ll necessarily suck. It may, just not necessarily is all. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/4 "2011-09-09T15:25:58Z")
I agree. Whatever his character flaws, I think he makes decent movies. This could be good. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/5 "2011-09-09T16:21:12Z")
Interesting choice to depict Judah as leading an uprising against the English. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/6 "2011-09-09T16:24:29Z")
Hopefully he’s taking the time to educate himself and fight his own ignorance. Equally hopefully, he’ll use Handel’s music; if he dramatises Handel’s oratorio, it could be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/7 "2011-09-09T16:26:25Z")
So I guess we know who he’ll blame if this fails. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/8 "2011-09-09T16:46:12Z")
It’s a good idea for a movie, and Gibson has shown that he can direct this kind of historical epic very well. I don’t think he’d be wise to star in it, though. Never mind the antisemitic baggage (and don’t forget the “pack of niggers” thing), the domestic violence stuff was so ugly that I don’t think audiences could look past that and root for him as a hero anymore. As an interesting bit of trivia. Joe Esterhas’ father was a Nazi war criminal. Joe did not know this himself until he was an adult, though and has never shown any antisemitic inclinations of his own. He did, in a weird coincidence, once write a movie called, _The Music Box_, which starred Jessica Lange as a lawyer who defends her father after he is accused of having been a Nazi and committing war crimes in Hungary during WWII. He also wrote a movie called _The Betrayed_ about a woman who discovers that her boyfriend is secretly the leader of a violent white supremacist group. Esterhas wrote these screenplays before he found out about his father. He talks about it in one of his books, and thinks he may have had subconscious suspicions about his father when he wrote those screenplays. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/9 "2011-09-09T16:56:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Interesting choice to depict Judah as leading an uprising against the English. Or to give the Jews Scottish accents. Eleazar: Fine speech, now wha’ do we do? Judah: Just be yerselves. Eleazar: Where are ya goin’? Judah: Ah’m goin’ ta peck a fight. Eleazar: Well, we did na’ get dressed up for nothin’ then. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/10 "2011-09-09T16:56:36Z")
Antiochus IV Epiphanes just got 540% gayer. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/11 "2011-09-09T17:00:19Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Interesting choice to depict Judah as leading an uprising against the English. He’s got a ready-made villain in AntiOCHus. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/12 "2011-09-09T17:17:42Z")
It would probably be a lot better idea for Gibson to play Antiochus than Judah. He’s really too old to play Judah anyway, though he might not be a bad choice to play Mattathias, the patriarch of the Maccabees (he would die fairly early on, though). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/13 "2011-09-09T18:46:28Z")
_Apocolypto_ was filmed using an ancient language. So I’m assuming _Leave it to Judah_ will be all in Yiddish. “Judah _boychick_, don’t listen to the meshuggina alter cockers. Dey’s _nudniks_, I tells ya!” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/14 "2011-09-09T19:02:32Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > As an interesting bit of trivia. Joe Esterhas’ father was a Nazi war criminal. Joe did not know this himself until he was an adult, though and has never shown any antisemitic inclinations of his own. He did, in a weird coincidence, once write a movie called, _The Music Box_, which starred Jessica Lange as a lawyer who defends her father after he is accused of having been a Nazi and committing war crimes in Hungary during WWII. He also wrote a movie called _The Betrayed_ about a woman who discovers that her boyfriend is secretly the leader of a violent white supremacist group. Esterhas wrote these screenplays before he found out about his father. He talks about it in one of his books, and thinks he may have had subconscious suspicions about his father when he wrote those screenplays. I saw _The Music Box_. I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/15 "2011-09-09T20:28:21Z")
Yeah, if Mel has sobered up this could be epic. If Mel and Joe dreamed this us over bowls of ice…this could be epic. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/16 "2011-09-09T20:46:05Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > (and don’t forget the “pack of niggers” thing) Maybe he’ll do Nat Turner next. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/17 "2011-09-09T20:52:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It would probably be a lot better idea for Gibson to play Antiochus than Judah. He’s really too old to play Judah anyway, though he might not be a bad choice to play Mattathias, the patriarch of the Maccabees (he would die fairly early on, though). How old is Judah supposed to have been at the time? We all know Hollywood has a long history of stars pretending they look much younger than they really do, but Gibson is 55. Are we talking about him playing a guy who was 25 to 30, or a guy who was 40 or so? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/18 "2011-09-09T21:03:53Z")
My interest is piqued, but only because of morbid curiosity. I’m not sure I would pay money to see it in the theater, but it might be worth checking out on video. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/19 "2011-09-09T21:30:33Z")
I wonder if a righteous, upstanding Christian Gentleman like Brother Gibson feels that the Jews before the time of Christ were a different, more spiritually exalted people altogether, before they, y’know, murdered the Son Of God and all… (I guess the whole “Jews started all of the world’s wars!!!” business is on the back burner for now, but drunkenly calling a lady cop “Shoogar-tits” is ripe for a revival, IMHO) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723/20 "2011-09-09T22:02:44Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It’s a good idea for a movie, and Gibson has shown that he can direct this kind of historical epic very well. I don’t think he’d be wise to star in it, though. Never mind the antisemitic baggage (and don’t forget the “pack of niggers” thing), the domestic violence stuff was so ugly that I don’t think audiences could look past that and root for him as a hero anymore. He’s also getting a little old for the action hero bit. He’s 55, and looks it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mel-gibson-making-film-about-judah-maccabee-this-will-end-well/595723.md?page=2)