The poster on the right is satiric.  As far as I know neither Adam Sandler nor Barbra Streisand will appear in the movie and I gather it will not be called either “Rothschilds” or “Crazy Rich Jews.” HanWay Films, the distributor for the movie, has announced that Shia LaBeouf—who is Jewish—has been cast as t Becket Rothchild,.  The character conspires to kill the nine entitled scions who are his way of him inheriting the family fortune. Gibson plays Whitelaw Rothchild, Becket’s sinister grandfather.

I gotta admit, I enjoyed “Crazy Rich Asians” with all the pleasure that ethnic satire can bring. But, to be honest, I keep thinking of my Asian friends.  Would they think this was funny? Would I think the movie was funny if it made fun of wealthy Jews?

I guess I may get to answer the question myself. Looks like Hollywood is offering a sequel, only this time Mel Gibson gets to star as the psion of the ohso rich Jewish family.

The man’s history of anti-Semitic and racist remarks as well as Gibson’s production of a movie version of the passion play worthy of Oberammergau makes this a bizarre choice.  To make matters worse Gibson’s longtime publicist Alan Nierob wrote, “I feel the need to spare you any embarrassment as I’m told this film is about a fictional family (hence the name ‘Rothchild’) vs the Rothschild family to which you are referring, … Hopefully this is helpful to you.”

The fact that a representative for Gibson stated that the film has no connection to the real-life Rothschild family is itself absurd. 

Even leaving his antisemitism aside, Gibson’s off-screen performances include a drunk-driving arrest and a  racist phone call to an ex-girlfriend in which he admitted hitting is ex wife, Oksana Grigorievaher, and telling her she would be at fault if she got “raped by a pack of n—ers.”

You might say that Hollywood has ch9osen an all-purpose bigot to play a Rothschild.  So why was Gibson chosen for this role? Is he financing the movie or, to make a bad pun,  is this just a ham-handed publicity stunt?  I suspect the latter is the case.  Given Gibson’s history of very public antisemitism, and support for Catholic extremist groups that resemble too closely the extreme sects of Islam, promoting him as Rothschilscan only be something almost as funny as the Nazi images in Mel Brooks’ production of the Producers.

This has nothing to do with Gibson’s acting skills.  Gibson has played funny men as well as mad killers.  None of his move roles,

he ultra-orthodox Opus Dei sect denies that Mel Gibson is a member.  However, nor is  Mr. Gibson is not a member of a traditional Roman Catholic church. instead, the wealthy actor is a member of another far-right sect opposed to the current Pope and has funded a church of his own.

however, have put him in the role of a religious nut.  That role may be best seen through Gibson’s real life support for extremist Catholic sects that oppose Vatican II.  Like his father, the actor is a passionate member of the Catholic Traditionalist movement, a Catholic sect that rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the efforts by Pope Francis to reach out to the rest of the world’s religions.

Even after watching this clip I am a suspicious Jew.  I wonder if Gibson’s criticism of Trump is because he sees Trump’s support for Netanyahu as too Jewish? I wonder if he may now support Trump and Jared because of an apocalyptic belief that Jesus is coming and will condemn all non-believers to hell?

A vision of the full extent of Gibson’s real Mad Max character may depend on alcohol.  Several years ago Gibson was arrested for drunk drunk driving. The police officers recorded the drunk Gibson saying “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” Gibson told a reporter  “I was loaded, and some stupid shit can come out of your mouth when you’re loaded,” the actor said in 2011.  He later claimed that his invective was prompted by Israel’s conflict with Lebanon.

The most insightful review I have seen of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” comes from the Christian writer  Mathew Fox,  “Gibson’s rejection of Vatican II (which, among other things, apologized for the church’s long and sorry history of blaming Jesus’ death on the Jews and its primary role in fueling anti-Semitism over the centuries), gives one a sense of where his piety lies…. extreme right wing Catholics who like Gibson would only attend Mass in Latin and who like Gibson rejected Vatican II .. Mixing all of the gospels into one narrative, as Gibson does, is artistic license but it is not history. The gospels themselves lack historicity, as in their muddling of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and their bias against Judaism stems from the fact that they were written after the fall of the Temple, long after Jesus’ death. They also let Pontius Pilate off the hook (which this movie does in spades).”

A full vision of Gibson as an antisemite can be seen is his version of the classic passion play.  Like the now banned version at Oberammergau,  Gibson’s “Passion of Christ” reinforces the idea of the Jews as hateful people who killed Jesus, i.e. God.  The assertion that deicide is part of brutal Jewish ideology, has been used to justify the murder of millions of Jews over the last 1700 years.  In contrast, the Roman leader, Pontius Pilate, is depicted by Gibson as a conflicted man who wanted to be fair to Jesus but was opposed by the Pharisees.  Real history teaches us that those men, the  Pharisees, were the major opponents to Roman rule.  My son, Hillel, is named after the most famous Pharisee. After the destruction of the Temple, the Pharisees became the were the predecessors of all modern rabbis.  As Christianity became a Roman sect, the gospels were written to blame the Pharisees for Jesus’ crucifixion.

One of the Gibson’s screenwriters alleged that Gibson was publicly hateful of Jews and used several anti-Semitic epithets in their time working together.  While Gibson denied the allegations, he admitted to having had “a little bit of a temper” and has never apol=gized for his movie.

Using Mel Gibsone to play the Rothschilds heir is reminiscent of  characters like  Mickey Rooney’s “Yunioshi” in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”   or maybe   Peter Lorre’s “Mr Moto.”    The 1986 comedy film “Gung Ho,”  Michael Keaton, plays an American autoworker invited to his Japanese boss’s home. Smacking his lips, he compliments his hostess, saying “Mmm, this is great! What do you call this anyway?” “Meat roaf?”

Hollywood’s lack of good taste is an old story.  “Birth of a Nation” created support for the KKK.  The Jazz Singer demeaned both Jews and Blacks as somehow the same thing. Decodes of Tonto movies promoted the idea that the only good injun was a dead one.

Meanwhile, whatever Gibson’s movie is to be called it has been withdrawn from the Cannes Festival.  Gibson, however, will still be there, starring in several film projects including the role of Santa Claus in a comedy called Fatman.

Where is the Jewish version of Bruce Lee?