Brian Damage
08-01-2006, 02:16 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The ABC television network said on Tuesday that it has pulled a miniseries about the Holocaust it was developing with Mel Gibson's production company.
The move came after Gibson was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early on Friday and was reported to have launched into a tirade against Jews, asking the arresting officer if he was a Jew and blaming the Jews for starting all wars.
The actor, who holds strong conservative Catholic religious and political views and whose father is a Holocaust denier, apologized on Saturday and has entered a rehabilitation program to treat alcoholism.
But the incident has raised questions about the future of projects Gibson and his Icon Productions company are working on.
A spokeswoman for ABC, which is owned by Walt Disney Co., said an ABC television miniseries based on a memoir about a Dutch Jew during World War II would not go ahead.
"Given that it has been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon," said spokeswoman Hope Hartland.
ABC did not give any further reason for its decision to drop the project and Hartland made no comment when asked if the decision was linked to Gibson's behavior at the weekend.
Disney's movie studio arm still plans to release Gibson's self-financed Mayan-language movie "Apocalypto" on December 8, Hollywood's trade papers reported.
The Web site www.slate.com quoted Walt Disney Studios President Oren Aviv as saying he accepted Gibson's apology.
The move came after Gibson was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early on Friday and was reported to have launched into a tirade against Jews, asking the arresting officer if he was a Jew and blaming the Jews for starting all wars.
The actor, who holds strong conservative Catholic religious and political views and whose father is a Holocaust denier, apologized on Saturday and has entered a rehabilitation program to treat alcoholism.
But the incident has raised questions about the future of projects Gibson and his Icon Productions company are working on.
A spokeswoman for ABC, which is owned by Walt Disney Co., said an ABC television miniseries based on a memoir about a Dutch Jew during World War II would not go ahead.
"Given that it has been nearly two years and we have yet to see the first draft of a script, we have decided to no longer pursue this project with Icon," said spokeswoman Hope Hartland.
ABC did not give any further reason for its decision to drop the project and Hartland made no comment when asked if the decision was linked to Gibson's behavior at the weekend.
Disney's movie studio arm still plans to release Gibson's self-financed Mayan-language movie "Apocalypto" on December 8, Hollywood's trade papers reported.
The Web site www.slate.com quoted Walt Disney Studios President Oren Aviv as saying he accepted Gibson's apology.