Gibson's comments were contained in a statement announcing
that the Roman Catholic Church has agreed to help his
production company, Icon, retrieve copies of an early draft of
the movie script that Icon says was obtained without permission
by a "deep throat" working for an ad-hoc group of Catholic and
Jewish scholars.
Jewish leaders have raised concerns that the movie, titled
"The Passion," might portray Jews as collectively guilty for
Christ's crucifixion. Catholics have expressed worries that
Gibson might use the film to challenge church teachings.
Their concerns were sparked by a New York Times Magazine
article portraying Gibson as a traditionalist Catholic opposed
to reforms of the Vatican (news - web sites) II Council of the 1960s, which among
other things rejected the belief that Jews were to blame for
the death of Jesus.
Gibson previously has said little about his movie, which
was shot in Italy and contains dialogue only in Latin and
Aramaic with no English subtitles. Gibson directed and co-wrote
the film, which does not yet have a distributor.
In his first public comments about the film since the
controversy began, Gibson said, "Neither I nor my film are
anti-Semitic ... Nor do I hate anybody -- certainly not the
Jews. They are my friends and associates ... Anti-Semitism is
not only contrary to my personal beliefs, it is also contrary
to the core message of my movie."
He added that the film is "meant to inspire, not offend.
... For those concerned about the content of this film, know
that it conforms to the narratives of Christ's passion and
death found in the four Gospels of the New Testament."
The film's producer, Steve McEveety, said that while
critics have a right to their opinion, "no one has a right to
publicly critique a film that has not even been completed, let
alone base their critique on an outdated version of the script
which has been illegally obtained."
The religious scholars' report on the draft script has not
been made public. But according to The Jewish Week newspaper,
they concluded that a "film based on the present version of the
script ... would promote anti-Semitic sentiments."
The newspaper, which claimed to have obtained a copy of the
18-page critique, quoted one unnamed Catholic theologian as
calling the script "one of the more anti-Semitic documents most
of us have seen in a long time."
Icon said it learned in late March that a draft of the
script "was taken by an individual referred to as 'our Deep
Throat"' and circulated to members of the interfaith scholars
group.
The bishops conference has disavowed any involvement in
obtaining the script or in preparing the critique.
But Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops issued a statement apologizing for "this
situation" and advising the scholars group that the draft
screenplay is "not considered to be representative of the film
and should not be the subject of further public comment."
A spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League acknowledged
that its director of interfaith affairs, Rabbi Eugene Korn, was
a member of the ad-hoc group, but she denied knowing how the
group obtained the script. She said ADL officials have asked
Icon to review the film with them in advance.
