Hollywood PR gambit or simply returning a favor? Brent Lang in TheWrap: Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'; But some NEVER will
Given the Hollywood-based news media's fascination for constantly recreating the same old narratives over and over again with different faces -it's not just Hollywood studios that like remakes- esp. their version of re-birth or redemption -regardless of whether it's factually either- it'll be interesting to see next week how talent-friendly, lowest common denominator TV shows like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and the like treat this story from Friday night, since there are a LOT of hard feelings in the Los Angeles entertainment industry about Mel Gibson, and an awful lot of people who have no intention of letting Gibson feel he's socially acceptable again in either polite society or the film industry.
Even people who usually try their best to stay "above it all" and not take sides if it's bad for business or ratings.
But the Mel Gibson issue is different.
Not that you'd know it from what your read in most U.S. newspapers or magazines -much less ones in South Florida- but there are a lot of smart and savvy TV program/network producers in LA who usually try their best to act agnostic editorially about some entertainment/celebrity stories they run that are clearly banal or self-serving but let them fly anyway, because they are, at heart, well, harmless.
But on this subject, they might just put their feet down and say, essentially, "Nope, I won't accommodate you, Mel Gibson. I won't allow you and your reps to finesse us in to giving you a one-sided forum to plead your case for public redemption.
Nope, first you must actually say that you're sorry publicly, specifically say what you're sorry about and then show some genuine remorse over an extended period of time.
Don't call us, we'll call you."
The conundrum of course, is how do you really ever know if a once hugely-popular actor like Gibson who has said and done what many people believe are some truly reprehensible things -consistently- is showing true remorse?
Or, frankly, is even worth trying to salvage?
Sometimes, despite your past history with talented-but-troublesome people, you have to let people with a documented history of 'burning bridges behind them' stay on the outside looking in, if for no other reason than self-preservation, so that you yourself aren't burned in the future. (Completion bonds exist for a reason, no?)
There are a lot of successful industry people who no longer are interested in being in the "Mel Gibson business,' no matter how artistically creative or financially reasonable the project he pitches sounds.
He's dead to them.
Period.
Someone else in LA will have to give him a rope or ladder to crawl out from the entertainment 'Phantom Zone' he's exiled in, but it won't be them.
They're throwing him an anchor, not an olive branch.
Over the weeks and months to come, we are all going to come to know just who those people are in Hollywood who put principles over profit.
TheWrap
Robert Downey Jr. Urges Hollywood: 'Forgive Mel Gibson'
Published: October 14, 2011 @ 11:50 pm
By Brent Lang
It was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s night, but somehow Friday’s American Cinematheque Award ceremony became all about Mel Gibson.When the evening’s honoree took to the stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton to accept his doorstop, he had a clear message for Hollywood.
Read the rest of the article at:
Also writing with some insight on this story was reporter Julie Makinen of the L.A. Times at their 24 Frames film blog.
24 Frames blog
Los Angeles Times
Mel Gibson gets a boost from Robert Downey Jr.
October 15, 2011 | 12:34 am
The slow but methodical rehabilitation of Mel Gibson in Hollywood took another step forward Friday night, courtesy of Robert Downey Jr.Dozens of famous faces who've performed onscreen with Downey or directed him -- among them Gibson, Jodie Foster, Gary Shandling, Michael Douglas and Jon Favreau -- gathered to pay tribute to (and roast) the "Iron Man" star at the Beverly Hilton as he received the 2011 American Cinematheque Award.
Read the rest of her take at:
And in case you forgot, as you watch the videos below, of his Good Morning America interviews with ABC News Diane Sawyer from October 12th and 13th 2006, recall that this was BEFORE the most recent scandal involving former Gibson love interest Oksana Grigorieva, whom he took up with even before officially divorcing his wife, Robyn.
Mel Gibson Accounts for his Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade (Part 1 of 2)
Mel Gibson Accounts for his Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade (Part 2 of 2)
