Mel’s Meltdown

The controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's religious epic, The Passion of the Christ looks set to run and run. This week Gibson has apparently been consulting his lawyers to find out whether he has a case to sue the US tabloid the New York Post over an illegal screening of The Passion. The newspaper obtained a bootleg copy of the film and screened it for a Priest, a Rabbi, a religious professor, a reader and their own film critic. The results of the screening were mainly negative but that's nothing compared to the furore in Hollywood over the whole affair. Studio heads are up in arms over the fact that the paper sourced a 'grainy, second generation videotape' of the film, screening it months before it was due for release and before Gibson had actually finished editing it. An entertainment lawyer representing Gibson tells the Los Angeles Times today that, 'Our biggest concern here is that a major media organisation would become involved with pirates to concoct a news story to sell newspapers. For someone to feel the license to do this is just outrageous.' Naturally, the New York Post has hit back at the critics, with a spokesperson saying; 'The filmmaker has already held a number of screenings for individuals and comments from those viewers have been reported in the media. With so much controversy and attention surrounding this film, we feel this is a legitimate news story.' 'If I had made that picture, I would have felt raped,' was the reaction of Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack. 'As a director, the sense that the New York Post has the legal right to take somebody's work that isn't finished is really very frightening to me.'