On the Mel Gibson "meltdown": Isn't the Hollywood dream factory

[CatWoman]

mostly comprised of people of the Jewish faith?

I think it started out that way.

Why would he allienate and trash those he would surely have to do business with?

[NYCGirl]

1. Not really. While Jewish people are "overrepresented" in Hollywood, not

all the people in power are Jewish.

[dancingme]

2. Mel is very, very wealthy

and he is talented enough to direct his own movies (Braveheart). He really doesn't need the studios except when it come to marketing and releasing his films. He owns his own production company and has people working for him looking at scripts. He doesn't need to interact with the standard Hollywood agents, producers and directors.

[ccpup]

3. but he does need the studios

to help him finance these movies he wants to make. and, if he has a shingle with one of the majors (I don't know if he does or not) and he continues to make an ass of himself, the shareholders of the studio may decide he's not worth the trouble and bad press and nix the contract. furthermore, if he continues accumulating bad press, his box office appeal will plummet, financing will be harder to come by (bad box office appeal means a slim return on their invest), marketing will be a nightmare and he'll have a hard time getting his calls returned ... the Kiss of Death in Hollywood. So, it's more than just marketing and releasing. It's the ability to get the Green Light to begin with.

[dancingme]

4. He financed The Passion with his own money

and he made back tons more on that movie. He really doesn't need the studios' $$ unless he wants to make a huge blockbuster movie - like Braveheart. He can make small movies with his own money.

[ccpup]

9. okay, but he does need

good press and, quite honestly, once people learn he's not the nice Mel they thought he was, they'll lose interest. even if he does "go it alone", he'll eventually need to return to the Studios and, if he's made lots of enemies and people don't believe he'll make back the money and time invested into him and his projects, he'll find it difficult to get things done.

having a lot of money is no guarantee in Hollywood that you'll be able to get your movies made (even for the wealthiest, studio financing is highly appreciated) and it's certainly no guarantee you'll get favorable marketing or press or support in the release of the film. it only takes one big self-financed flop to send one scurrying back to the studios for help ... and if you've made your distaste of them apparent over the years, the doors may not be open.

anyway, just my two cents.

[bluedeminredstate]

5. Wasn't he wasted?

Impaired judgement doesn't help, but Mel has never been quiet about his hyper, over-caffienated, Catholic beliefs. His faughter has never been quiet about his either, Holacaust denier that he is. Maybe Mel shares some of the same beliefs...

:shrug:

[Prophet 451]

6. Not really

Jewish people were among the first to see the potential of Hollywood and invest in it, that much is true (although they usually went out of their way to de-emphasise their Jewishness because the "Jewish liberal Hollywood" junk started very early) but these days, most studios and almost all distribution networks are owned by corporations with about as much pro-Jewish interest as you'd see in teh makeup of any other corporation.

[BonnieJW]

7. Not any more.

They started the movie industry, however. The Warner brothers, Samuel Goldwyn, Irving Thalberg and many of the early stars. They were visionaries.

[question everything]

8. MGM was for three Jewish names

and, I suppose, the founder of Dream Works - now owned by Disney - are Jews.

But to say that Hollywood is "ruled" by Jews, or by homosexuals - have heard that one, too - is giving in to just one more form of bigotry.

California, in general, and Hollywood, started free from the old-time bigotry that ruled "main street America." This is why people of all shades and forms migrated there because it was more tolerant than any place in this country.

Of course, California was also the home of Walt Disney, the John Birch Society and other societies. And where black list ruled during the McCarthy era.

If this is Gibson's excuse - as was Dolly Parton's some years back - then their problems are much bigger than whatever the reports say.

Oh, Michael Medved, a RW nut movie critic is Jewish, who, I am sure greatly admired Gibson and his Christ movie.

[endarkenment]

10. Because he is an out of control boozed up nutcase?

And actually Jews don't run Hollywood, money runs Hollywood, but it certainly was stupid of Mr. Gibson to let his inner feelings out like that. Was there any doubt after his big jesus flick that this guy bought into a retro-catholic god-killer outlook on people of the Jewish faith?

Hollywood shocker: Mel Is A Bigoted Nut!

[asjr]

11. I have no idea whether Mel is

anti-semitic or not. But the media certainly is cashing in on it. How many times yesterday and today have we heard about it? And they do stress the anti-Semitic remarks. But have they told us how many people have been killed in Iraq today? They tell us Condi is coming back home and will turn around and go back to the middle east. Now that really is "breaking news." And I am sick of hearing the newscasters talk about how Israel has screwed up and everyone is on the Hezbollah band wagon. They are not giving us the news, they are manufacturing it. I do not particularly care for Mel Gibson as an actor, but I sure as hell do not care what he said while DUI. Sad, sad media.

[Greyhound]

12. Hasn't been for quite some time.

There is no shortage of Jewish people in the biz, but it's nothing like it was a couple of generations ago. OTOH, it is still almost exclusively white and overwhelmingly male.