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CNN Live Sunday

Mel Gibson's Film on Christ Stirring Controversy

Aired August 31, 2003 - 10:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: For a movie that almost no one has seen and, in fact, a movie that has yet to be finished, Mel Gibson's "The Passion" is causing more than its share of controversy. The film was the subject of protest in the streets of New York this week.
CNN's Peter Viles reports the reaction to Gibson's project is just as passionate as the film's name.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The controversy of the summer in Hollywood is a movie that is not yet edited, does not have a distributor, probably won't be released until sometime next year and won't be in English anyway.

The movie is "Passion," Mel Gibson's account of Christ's final hours. These unofficial film clips are circulating on the Internet.

The controversy is whether the film blames Jews for the death of Christ. The Anti-Defamation League, based on reports of someone who has seen an early screening, believes that it does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This film in its present form restates the charge -- it does so dramatically -- that the Jews are responsible for the killing of Jesus. We are concerned that this movie, if it is released in its present form, will act to inflame, induce anti- Semitism around the world.

VILES: Gibson practices a form of Catholicism that disregards Vatican II, which, among other things, exonerated Jews from the charge of killing Christ. He has said privately he wants to tell the story of Christ's death according to the gospel, and many who have seen early versions of the film are praising it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It communicates the last day of Jesus's life here on the earth and no different than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do and no different than 350,000 churches across America celebrate Easter and in the midst of the Easter celebration they have to tell the story of the crucifixion and everything associated with that.

VILES: Responding to the charge that the film could incite anti- Semitism, a spokesman for Gibson tells CNN, quote, "No one associated with this film has any interest in fueling hatred, bigotry or anti- Semitism. The film is about love, faith, hope and forgiveness."

Mel Gibson has a number of decisions to make. He still has not finished editing the film. He has not chosen a distributor or a release date, nor has he chosen whether or not to use subtitles. The film was shot in Latin and Aramaic.

Peter Viles, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, with the Passion that's being generated by this movie we thought we'd get an expert's opinion on what's going on here. We couldn't find one, but we still have in our Los Angeles bureau Paul Clinton from CNN.com. It's too easy.

What's Mel Gibson got at stake here? He's put up, like, $40 million of his own money in this film and it doesn't look like it's going to be a huge hit.

PAUL CLINTON, CNN.COM: No. Movies about religion have never been huge hits. I mean, "Last Temptation of Christ," "Dogma," have always been controversial and the controversy has raged until the movie comes out. Then the movie comes out and the court of public opinion gives a big yawn and it goes away.

Now, this film may be different. It is the last 12 hours of Christ's death. It is supposed to be distressingly violent. But again, nobody has seen this movie yet. So all these people are, you know, up in arms about something they haven't seen yet.

But there are red flags everywhere. As you saw in that piece, Mel does belong to a sect of the Catholic Church, traditionalists. They reject Vatican II. There's a lot of concern about that. He's been quoted as saying that when he was making the film in Rome that the Holy Ghost was working through him and he was just directing traffic. Star egos...

VAUSE: Really?

CLINTON: Yes. That's actually what he is reportedly saying.

VAUSE: OK.

CLINTON: So -- but movie actors can be dramatic so maybe he's just being a bit dramatic. But there is controversy on this one. There's going to be, continue to be until it's seen on a wider scale. He's not showing it to many people.

VAUSE: And we've learned that 20th Century Fox will not distribute this film. Is that the first time for a Mel Gibson film, and will he have trouble finding a distributor?

CLINTON: I don't think he'll have trouble. Fox has a first-see deal with Icon Production, which is Mel's company. So Fox has the right of first refusal, which they have exercised. And -- but I don't know whether a big major studio will probably take this or not. It may be a smaller boutique type distributor.

Also Icon Productions can distribute. So if worse comes to worse, Mel could distribute it through Icon.

This is a vanity production. He has paid and bankrolled the entire thing. It is not finished.

And there is going to continue to be controversies. Only showing it to select people, and most of them are very conservative people. And Joel Silver, who is Jewish, went to see it and loves it. And Joel Silver produced all the "Lethal Weapon" movies. So, you know, until it gets out there on a wider basis that people can actually judge, it's really hard to tell.

VAUSE: OK. What's the deal with subtitles? The whole thing is in Latin and then not thinking about subtitles?

CLINTON: I know. They're still up in the air about doing that. It's supposed to be a silent movie. Again, the theory is that everybody knows the story, so they'll be able to follow it, even if they can't understand the language being used.

But I think probably any distributor, unless he distributes it on his own, is going to require subtitles. It's going to be a tough movie anyway. I mean, why make it even tougher?

VAUSE: Now, do we know -- has anything come out about why Mel Gibson felt so compelled to make this movie, put his own money up and take the gamble on it? What's his -- You mentioned that he thought that the Holy Spirit was working through him.

CLINTON: Yes.

VAUSE: Is there any more on the motivation?

CLINTON: Well, he is a very conservative man. He is very, very religious and it's this splinter group, this traditionalist sect of Catholicism that has everybody worried.

Again, Mel's public image in Hollywood is the jokester, the prankster. He's very, very popular. You know, he's the cocky little brother and now this is showing his very conservative side.

VAUSE: He also has nine kids, as well, hasn't he?

CLINTON: Yes, he's got a number of children. He lives in Malibu. He's been in Malibu since '85. He's building a church in Malibu for this fundamentalist sect that he belongs to. About 70 members of that church, traditionalist church. So people, you know, are concerned.

But Mel himself, most people don't think he's anti-Semitic. He's a popular guy. And you know, the proof's going to be in the pudding. We can't judge until we've seen the movie. But he's being very cagey with it. He's not showing it to...

VAUSE: Just very quickly, Paul, just in a pure commercial sense, is this going to be a bomb? CLINTON: I can't see it being a big hit. It's going to be a really hard whoever movie to watch. Jim Caviezel, who plays Christ, even said that he thinks people will walk out of the movie.

VAUSE: Yes.

CLINTON: And people go to movies to be entertained, to be enlightened, to be moved. They rarely go to movies for a religious experience.

VAUSE: OK. Paul Clinton our expert in the L.A. Bureau. Thank you very much for getting up early there on the west coast.

CLINTON: Thank you.

VAUSE: Have a good day. Enjoy Labor Day.

CLINTON: You, too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 31, 2003 - 10:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: For a movie that almost no one has seen and, in fact, a movie that has yet to be finished, Mel Gibson's "The Passion" is causing more than its share of controversy. The film was the subject of protest in the streets of New York this week.
CNN's Peter Viles reports the reaction to Gibson's project is just as passionate as the film's name.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The controversy of the summer in Hollywood is a movie that is not yet edited, does not have a distributor, probably won't be released until sometime next year and won't be in English anyway.

The movie is "Passion," Mel Gibson's account of Christ's final hours. These unofficial film clips are circulating on the Internet.

The controversy is whether the film blames Jews for the death of Christ. The Anti-Defamation League, based on reports of someone who has seen an early screening, believes that it does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This film in its present form restates the charge -- it does so dramatically -- that the Jews are responsible for the killing of Jesus. We are concerned that this movie, if it is released in its present form, will act to inflame, induce anti- Semitism around the world.

VILES: Gibson practices a form of Catholicism that disregards Vatican II, which, among other things, exonerated Jews from the charge of killing Christ. He has said privately he wants to tell the story of Christ's death according to the gospel, and many who have seen early versions of the film are praising it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It communicates the last day of Jesus's life here on the earth and no different than Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do and no different than 350,000 churches across America celebrate Easter and in the midst of the Easter celebration they have to tell the story of the crucifixion and everything associated with that.

VILES: Responding to the charge that the film could incite anti- Semitism, a spokesman for Gibson tells CNN, quote, "No one associated with this film has any interest in fueling hatred, bigotry or anti- Semitism. The film is about love, faith, hope and forgiveness."

Mel Gibson has a number of decisions to make. He still has not finished editing the film. He has not chosen a distributor or a release date, nor has he chosen whether or not to use subtitles. The film was shot in Latin and Aramaic.

Peter Viles, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, with the Passion that's being generated by this movie we thought we'd get an expert's opinion on what's going on here. We couldn't find one, but we still have in our Los Angeles bureau Paul Clinton from CNN.com. It's too easy.

What's Mel Gibson got at stake here? He's put up, like, $40 million of his own money in this film and it doesn't look like it's going to be a huge hit.

PAUL CLINTON, CNN.COM: No. Movies about religion have never been huge hits. I mean, "Last Temptation of Christ," "Dogma," have always been controversial and the controversy has raged until the movie comes out. Then the movie comes out and the court of public opinion gives a big yawn and it goes away.

Now, this film may be different. It is the last 12 hours of Christ's death. It is supposed to be distressingly violent. But again, nobody has seen this movie yet. So all these people are, you know, up in arms about something they haven't seen yet.

But there are red flags everywhere. As you saw in that piece, Mel does belong to a sect of the Catholic Church, traditionalists. They reject Vatican II. There's a lot of concern about that. He's been quoted as saying that when he was making the film in Rome that the Holy Ghost was working through him and he was just directing traffic. Star egos...

VAUSE: Really?

CLINTON: Yes. That's actually what he is reportedly saying.

VAUSE: OK.

CLINTON: So -- but movie actors can be dramatic so maybe he's just being a bit dramatic. But there is controversy on this one. There's going to be, continue to be until it's seen on a wider scale. He's not showing it to many people.

VAUSE: And we've learned that 20th Century Fox will not distribute this film. Is that the first time for a Mel Gibson film, and will he have trouble finding a distributor?

CLINTON: I don't think he'll have trouble. Fox has a first-see deal with Icon Production, which is Mel's company. So Fox has the right of first refusal, which they have exercised. And -- but I don't know whether a big major studio will probably take this or not. It may be a smaller boutique type distributor.

Also Icon Productions can distribute. So if worse comes to worse, Mel could distribute it through Icon.

This is a vanity production. He has paid and bankrolled the entire thing. It is not finished.

And there is going to continue to be controversies. Only showing it to select people, and most of them are very conservative people. And Joel Silver, who is Jewish, went to see it and loves it. And Joel Silver produced all the "Lethal Weapon" movies. So, you know, until it gets out there on a wider basis that people can actually judge, it's really hard to tell.

VAUSE: OK. What's the deal with subtitles? The whole thing is in Latin and then not thinking about subtitles?

CLINTON: I know. They're still up in the air about doing that. It's supposed to be a silent movie. Again, the theory is that everybody knows the story, so they'll be able to follow it, even if they can't understand the language being used.

But I think probably any distributor, unless he distributes it on his own, is going to require subtitles. It's going to be a tough movie anyway. I mean, why make it even tougher?

VAUSE: Now, do we know -- has anything come out about why Mel Gibson felt so compelled to make this movie, put his own money up and take the gamble on it? What's his -- You mentioned that he thought that the Holy Spirit was working through him.

CLINTON: Yes.

VAUSE: Is there any more on the motivation?

CLINTON: Well, he is a very conservative man. He is very, very religious and it's this splinter group, this traditionalist sect of Catholicism that has everybody worried.

Again, Mel's public image in Hollywood is the jokester, the prankster. He's very, very popular. You know, he's the cocky little brother and now this is showing his very conservative side.

VAUSE: He also has nine kids, as well, hasn't he?

CLINTON: Yes, he's got a number of children. He lives in Malibu. He's been in Malibu since '85. He's building a church in Malibu for this fundamentalist sect that he belongs to. About 70 members of that church, traditionalist church. So people, you know, are concerned.

But Mel himself, most people don't think he's anti-Semitic. He's a popular guy. And you know, the proof's going to be in the pudding. We can't judge until we've seen the movie. But he's being very cagey with it. He's not showing it to...

VAUSE: Just very quickly, Paul, just in a pure commercial sense, is this going to be a bomb? CLINTON: I can't see it being a big hit. It's going to be a really hard whoever movie to watch. Jim Caviezel, who plays Christ, even said that he thinks people will walk out of the movie.

VAUSE: Yes.

CLINTON: And people go to movies to be entertained, to be enlightened, to be moved. They rarely go to movies for a religious experience.

VAUSE: OK. Paul Clinton our expert in the L.A. Bureau. Thank you very much for getting up early there on the west coast.

CLINTON: Thank you.

VAUSE: Have a good day. Enjoy Labor Day.

CLINTON: You, too.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com