The Atlantic

How Hollywood Redeemed Mel Gibson

The director and actor has been hired for a major new studio project—remaking <em>The Wild Bunch</em>—despite the many scandals in his past.
Source: Al Powers / Invision / AP

In 2016, Mel Gibson hit the publicity trail for his new movie, Hacksaw Ridge, a biographical war drama that was his first directorial effort in 10 years. The film was received warmly at the Venice Film Festival and got a November release date, indicating serious Oscar potential. But Gibson, one of the biggest actors in the 1990s, had been tainted by scandal. There was his 2006 , where he was recorded making anti-Semitic remarks. Then there was the abusive, virulently racist he made to his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva in 2010, in which he admitted to and said she had “deserved it.”

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic17 min read
How America Became Addicted to Therapy
A few months ago, as I was absent-mindedly mending a pillow, I thought, I should quit therapy. Then I quickly suppressed the heresy. Among many people I know, therapy is like regular exercise or taking vitamin D: something a sensible person does rout
The Atlantic4 min readAmerican Government
How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t
Near the end of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about whether Colorado could exclude former President Donald Trump from its ballot as an insurrectionist, the attorney representing voters from the state offered a warning to the justices—one evoking
The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was

Related Books & Audiobooks