(JTA) — Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas has written an e-book that recounts his fraught relationship with actor and director Mel Gibson and Gibson’s desire to write a "Jewish Braveheart."
"Heaven and Mel," a 30,000-word Kindle e-book published by Amazon, had been scheduled for release on June 6, but was released four days earlier after news of its existence surfaced.
In an April letter to Gibson, after Warner Bros. announced that it would not go forward with Eszterhas’ screenplay for Gibson’s movie about Judah Maccabee, Eszterhas said the actor and filmmaker "hates Jews."
The letter also accused Gibson of not really wanting to make the film, and sabotaging it, saying: "I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason you won’t make ‘The Maccabees’ is the ugliest possible one. You hate Jews.” Eszterhas wrote that Gibson wanted to make the movie only so he could “convert the Jews to Christianity.”
The new book "provides context and detail around the conflict" between Gibson and Eszterhas, according to The Wrap. Included in the book are some of Gibson’s emails to Eszterhas during the research and writing for the screenplay.
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