Mel Gibson Exposed!
I want to share an amazing story about Mel Gibson that is a terrific e-book on kindle – and afterwards I will share MY Mel Gibson encounter as well!
First, let’s hear from acclaimed Author Joe Eszterhas!
The Amazing Story Of Joe Eszterhas!
First, do you know the provocative Author of “Showgirls” and “Basic Instinct”? Well, this Kindle single will change all of that!
That’s right, Eszterhas wrote what is, to me, one of the wildest, most entertaining movies ever made – “Showgirls!”
Eszterhas also wrote a brilliant film called “Music Box” – that tells the story of a Hungarian-American immigrant who is accused of having been a war criminal. The plot revolves around his daughter, an attorney, who defends him, and her struggle to uncover the truth.
I mention this because that plot line factors into the story of “Heaven And Mel”.
And Now Joe Takes On Mel Gibson!
Joe Eszterhas has NEVER shied away from controversy – and he recently “found religion” – he explains how this happened to him in the book – and is candid and honest about what drove him to that decision.
Joe Eszterhas has also written several caustic books about the movie industry – but his new work “Heaven And Mel” is, to me, his finest work ever!
Heaven And Mel!
This is an AMAZING e-book – it’s Joe’s story about his ill-fated attempt to work with Mel Gibson – which led to a global confrontation over their planned movie – a film that had a very religious focus…
As Amazon says so succinctly: “Heaven and Mel” is Eszterhas’s explosive, unabridged, no-holds-barred account of their effort to work together. It is a Hollywood story of anger and hatred, of anti-Semitism and fathers and sons, and of a movie star’s tragic sexual obsession.
Joe tells the story of how he tried to work with Gibson, even with his concerns over the Actor’s public tirades and highly-publicized arrest:
You HAVE to read this book – here are three choice excerpts to give you an idea of what Joe experienced:
The Enema Offer!
Well, here’s a hilarious, and very strange, interaction that Eszterhas had with Gibson while staying at the actor’s Malibu residence. The star excitedly tried to persuade him to try out his personal enema machine. Eszterhas declined.
“…Mel says to me, ‘I’ve got this enema kit upstairs. It cleans all the poison and shit out of you. It’s better than a colonic. I’ll hook you up if you want. An hour later you’re done. Clean as a whistle.’
I thank him. It’s very nice of him to offer to hook me up personally to his enema kit.
Thank you, but no thank you!”
The Bad Photo Tirade!
Eszterhas also has a scary story about the night Mel went into a rage in front of the Author, his wife and son, and a number of other guests…all because he didn’t like the way he looked in a photo!
“HE HURLS HIS CELLPHONE against the stone wall and screams, ‘I look so fucking old! I look horrible! That fucking whore (Oksana) is destroying me! She’s taking my looks! I hate her! She’s destroying my life!’
He is screaming full-throated: ‘Look at me!! Fucking look at me! Look how terrible I look! Answer me, God! Why did you turn your back on me! Fuck you! Fuck you!’
He steps a few feet away and screams into the sky, ‘I’m not gonna take it up the ass anymore and say, Thank you, your Honor!’”
The Hit Man!
The most chilling story from the book revolves around Gibson’s divorce from Oksana Grigorieva…
Here is what Eszterhas says happened one night when he was alone with Gibson:
“His back still turned to me, he says, ‘I’m going to have her killed.’
I gape at him: What did he say?
He turns slowly back to me and looks me in the eye. “I’m going to make her disappear,’ he says. ‘She’s going to be gone. Gone! And no one will ever know it’s me. No one! I’m not going to live this way the rest of my life! She is evil! They worship the devil where she comes from! She’s going to disappear!’
WOW. And there are many more stories as well – like I said, this is a terrific book!
MY Mel Encounter!
While reading “Heaven And Mel”, I kept being reminded of his boorish behavior, because I experienced it firsthand!
I was at the Cannes Film Festival when they announced the Planet Hollywood restaurant franchise…here is Michael Castner interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger outside The Carlton Hotel while I look on from the left…
Michael Castner was my Host in Cannes several times, and while at the film festival one year we had to make a quick trip up to London for a day to film the opening of Planet Hollywood London! Alex and George were with us as well….here’s Alex from Cannes – pointing out John Lithgow:
And of course, here is Alex pointing out that Michael Castner is relaxing and CANNOT be disturbed right now!
And here I am with George, as we are waiting patiently for a red carpet event to begin:
Our London Trip! My “Mel Encounter!”
Since we were in Cannes, the entire team got a special assignment: we would be covering the opening of Planet Hollywood London for an E! special – I did a number of these, including the original opening in New York, as well as Las Vegas, London, Mall Of America and more!
We all woke up early in the morning, took the 90 minute flight to London, checked into a hotel, dropped our bags and grabbed our equipment, and headed to Planet Hollywood to shoot the grand opening.
Because we were doing a one hour special on the opening, we got inside the restaurant during the day – and Michael interviewed Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. It was always fun to be inside with the stars: Arnold was a true pro, Bruce did what he was asked, and Sylvester Stallone was always terrific.
I had the opportunity to interview Stallone many times, and he was always gracious, self-deprecating, honest and FUNNY. A really genuinely nice guy!
After the interviews were done, Alex and Michael worked on scripts inside the restaurant, and I went outside with George and Oscar to get a place on the red carpet for the star-studded arrivals…
Rain Delay!
On this opening night, the red carpet was delayed for over an hour due to rain – Michael had to stay inside to stay dry for celebrity interaction inside, and George, Oscar and I held our spot on the carpet – and waited – and waited – all in the pouring rain – so by the time the stars arrived, we were soaked!
My Mel Encounter!
Once the rain stopped, they opened the red carpet, and thousands of fans – no matter how wet – went crazy and cheered everyone there. It was a huge crowd, and Stallone went up to stands and shook hands with fans. Class act. One of the first people on the red carpet was Mel Gibson, who walked right up to me with a smile on his face.
I said to him, “what’s your first thought about tonight?”
And he says without missing a pause, “that you shouldn’t have put so much grease in your hair.”
Well, I had just waited in a rainstorm – with no umbrella – i was soaked and my hair was slicked back – but apparently Mel Gibson thought it would be funny to make fun of me.
I paused for the briefest of moments, just said quickly: “aside from that, why do you think the fans are here tonight?”
He gave me an answer, I followed up with one more question, and he moved along…and the whole time I’m talking to him I’m thinking, “I don’t care what sort of an ass you are – just give me my soundbites.”
Mel Gibson’s Reputation!
It was well known in the entertainment media that Mel responded much better to women than to men, and that he was caustic and sarcastic to the press. I guess many of the Joe Eszteras stories bear that out…and as I just told you – he was, to me, just a total dick…for no reason at all. He said that snarky comment because he could. I’ve interviewed a ton of celebrities, and you knew who was good and who wasn’t…but you still had to suck it up and get the story.
So, with that unpleasant memory of Mel with me, I found “Heaven And Mel” even more fascinating to read – and there are stories in this book that are shocking – but right in line with the type of person Mel Gibson was – so a big kudos to a terrific job by Joe Eszterhas capturing the real Mel Gibson!
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johnrieber 
Mel sounds psychotic. He’s correct about not aging well though, I think he skipped the sunscreen for too many years.
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Joe E. wrote a wickedly honest ebook – and based on what I know and saw about Mel, very accurate.
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Yes I heard about that recently!
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My favourite actors as a kid were Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson. Sadly there’s the movies and then there’s real life. Quite a town old Hollywood. Of course Mel would argue Joe is just being opportunistic and slandering him but I don’t find it hard to believe a lot of these people aren’t nice guys in real life. What is more interesting is how they get these reputations for years before getting torn down. I guess undeniable evidence is required. On the positive side you do have people like Robin Williams who seemed to genuinely do nice things. Thank you sharing some of your inside the industry memories, they’re lovely photos and I sure they hate people being dicks just because they can. A lot of that happens in a film set even with crew, cinematographers being rude to grips, gophers and best boys seem to get the worst because guess who’s at the bottom of the food chain.
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Lloyd, Mel was legendary for being rude to guys – he loved the ladies – and I spent time with Robin Williams – genuinely one of the nicest people…here is that story:https://johnrieber.com/2014/08/12/rip-robin-williams-class-act-a-cannes-encounter/
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Reblogged this on johnrieber and commented:
If you don’t know this story, it’s worth reading – an amazing Mel Gibson encounter
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