Gibson stays 'lucky' after all these years
Jason Detrick
Issue date: 4/2/04 Section: Tempo
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With possibly the biggest opportunity of your budding career coming up the next day, you would think a person would try to avoid getting into a disfiguring bathroom brawl. And yet that is exactly what actor Mel Gibson failed to avoid on the eve of his audition for the lead role in an extremely low-budget Australian film entitled "Mad Max." Going into the film looking like, as Mel has stated, "...a black and blue pumpkin," his hopes of landing the role weren't high. As it turns out, however, his battered appearance basically got him the part (which called for a similar look).
Recently, the film star has been the center of much talk. The subject of this controversy is Gibson's very own pet project "The Passion of the Christ." The film, written, produced and directed by Mel, follows the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ. Whenever a religious film is done, at least one group will be outraged by the content of the film. This movie, however, seems to initially have nearly all groups taking shots at Gibson.
Many have been hungering to know more about Gibson's religious background since the release of the film. They have been wondering what caused him to shell out over $25 million out of his own pocket to make "Passion." He actually built a church called the Holy Family Chapel in the mountains of Los Angeles, near Malibu. Gibson is the chief executive of a very traditional and ultra-conservative brand of Catholicism called the Holy Family.
Members of the Holy Family are a very traditionalist bunch who reject the changes enacted by the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. They maintain Vatican II corrupted the church, and so they do things as they were done before 1962. In other words, anything established by the Church after 1962 is completely rejected by the Holy Family, including the Church's apology for the persecution of the Jews by the Church. They insist that Latin be the only language spoken in the church, as it was in pre-Vatican II times. Women are required to wear hats or veils, and everyone is to fast on Fridays. The Holy Family is also said to share a deep disdain for the Pope.
Recently, the film star has been the center of much talk. The subject of this controversy is Gibson's very own pet project "The Passion of the Christ." The film, written, produced and directed by Mel, follows the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ. Whenever a religious film is done, at least one group will be outraged by the content of the film. This movie, however, seems to initially have nearly all groups taking shots at Gibson.
Many have been hungering to know more about Gibson's religious background since the release of the film. They have been wondering what caused him to shell out over $25 million out of his own pocket to make "Passion." He actually built a church called the Holy Family Chapel in the mountains of Los Angeles, near Malibu. Gibson is the chief executive of a very traditional and ultra-conservative brand of Catholicism called the Holy Family.
Members of the Holy Family are a very traditionalist bunch who reject the changes enacted by the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. They maintain Vatican II corrupted the church, and so they do things as they were done before 1962. In other words, anything established by the Church after 1962 is completely rejected by the Holy Family, including the Church's apology for the persecution of the Jews by the Church. They insist that Latin be the only language spoken in the church, as it was in pre-Vatican II times. Women are required to wear hats or veils, and everyone is to fast on Fridays. The Holy Family is also said to share a deep disdain for the Pope.
