The problem with this comparison is… who? Who is that?
From what I’ve read, Tom Cruise’s career has suffered even though he did and has been accused of doing much more benign things than Gibson has done and been accused of doing. People love to see the downfall of someone big and rich and powerful.
People are also very fickle. It could blow over, but I think it has the potential to be one of those things he never really recovers from, professionally (or perhaps personally. Dude sounds fucked up).
As some of the earlier posters seem to, I don’t understand the question. - Who’s the redeemer? Ok, so Mel Gibson is a nutjob and nobody likes him. Does that necessitates redemption? Because we at this or that internet forum agrees that he is in fact a son of a bitch? If Mel keeps quiet and meanwhile makes an entertaining movie, it will probably be a blockbuster. Hell, it might even be a bigger blockbuster because he is a well known son of a bitch.
On the other hand, if the question is: Must Gibson be “redeemed” to be able to work in the pictures, and make movies at all? Then I have no idea, because I don’t know how his latest faux pas affect him professionally. I don’t know the business.
I cant wait for the next Gibson flick! These recordings have given me a new found interest in the man.
And by the way he makes some pretty good movies: Apocalypso is fantastic.
Who gives a shit if he is an asshole in person. Some assholes makes great things.
I can imagine that Quentin Tarantino isnt the most pleasant man on the planet, still love his movies.
Some assholes makes great things, big deal. Im hoping the is a lighthearted rom-com with good old Mel.
True to a point, but screen actors–and to a lesser extent directors and writers–have careers that depend as much on public persona as the roles they play. Losing control of that public persona is never desirable for the celebrity, although in general it’s always possible to regain control with the right talisman/ritual–public apologies, a show of sincerity, adopting kids, etc. But of all the Hollywood sins that can be forgiven, hypocisy is probably the most difficult. The public like to pretend that they “know” a celebrity to a certain extent; sure they have secrets, but there is at least some relation between the public persona and the private life.
In short, the public will eventually forgive a celebrity any number of personal failings–especially if these failings can be cast as something “out of my control” or "something I’m coming to grips with. But once the acceptable lie of public vs. private life strays into calculated fraud, that’s when there’s a real threat to a celebrity careeer: Linsay Lohan will most likely never work in Hollywood again not just because she’s an alcoholic (a forgivable-enough sin), but because the public has no confidence she is committed to treatment for it, despite he public pronouncements (that, and the whole lesbian flirtation, which looked a lot like an attention grabbing stunt–again, there’s no longer a career problem with being a lesbian in Hollywood, but it is if the public thinks you’re only pretending to be one).
This is an extremely poor example. First off, Salva’s work is almost exclusively in the horror genre, where the usual laws of public relations don’t apply (if anything, a squeaky-clean backround is a career liability). Second, his first feature “Clownhouse” was released a year after he pled guilty to child sexual misconduct. Third, his only major feature “Powder”–released some six years after he completed his prison term–tanked at the box office, and was likely hurt by the public boycott of the filmorganized by the boy he molested (the link says the movie opened well, but final box office figures from 1995 suggest a general failure).
I guess work is work, but if the Jeepers Creepers franchise is comparable the level of success Salva expected–after having Francis Ford Coppola on board for your early career–his aim was low even by horror standards.
I disagree with your Lindsey Lohan argument there. She’ll have a tough time getting work because she’s a well known fuckup who blows off work, or comes to work hopped up on goofballs. No one wants to make a movie with her because of the risk. That is, a major movie. She should be able to land parts in grade D movies from now until she dies, she just won’t be able to star in a big Hollywood A or B movie, and she won’t be able to demand a star’s salary.
Mel Gibson’s career was already on the skids, not because the public hated him, but because fewer and fewer people in Hollywood wanted to work with him. So he created his own studio to release PotC and Apocalypto. But how many fundies are going to flock to see his next movie, because they love Mel’s Christian message?
For Mel’s career to continue, he has to make movies that lots of people want to see. He’s going to have trouble doing that, because he’s getting more and more out of control, which means his personal projects will suffer because of his mental issues, and because very few people will risk working with him. And that means it’s harder for him to make a good movie. And it’s harder for him to convince the public to see his movies, because he can’t play lighthearted action comedies anymore, and lots of people will decide they don’t want to see any movie he makes.
Sure, if he releases the next blockbuster, then people will go see it, but how is going to create the next blockbuster when his career is in this kind of shape?
I’m going to have an unpopular opinion here, but the gist of it is that the beast that lives inside Mel Gibson is similar to the beast inside me and virtually everyone else I have every met. He got drunk and drove in public a few years back and let the beast out in public. He was bad for drunk driving. He has more recently mouthed off in the privacy of his own home and treated someone like shit in private. That is bad. Mel does not do a very good job of acknowledging the beast to himself and keeping it on a short leash and muzzled. But a lot of people screw that up.
I don’t agree with the guy’s political opinions, and I think his behavior is something deplorable, but other than the drunk driving incident, it isn’t any of my business, and once he drove drunk, he wasn’t exactly in control of the beast’s mouth when pulled over.
I think that he and the public would benefit from some kind of sensitivity training because he does direct popular art and star in it, and I would want him to pick up on stereotypes that creep into his work. But really, this episode is about making private comments public. I more strongly disapprove of making private racist comments of a non-politician public than I do Mr. Gibson verbally abusing someone in private, which I also don’t approve of, but really isn’t my business.
Mel has issues but he is alright. He sometimes gets drunk and begins screaming the truth and this country does not like truthes. He has the money. He should get a good lawyer (probably already has one) and then get his behind out of the US. The authorities in the US are slowly trying to build a case against him because he is just not politically correct and has acted stupidly.
He needs to leave now. Let them try and extradite him on their weak case. They will not and they will find they cannot.
He is a fool to remain.