Posted on 02/18/2004 1:26:26 PM PST by missyme
Gibson's first TV interview on the subject of his new controversial movie about Jesus drew 17 million viewers Monday night at 10, according to Nielsen figures released yesterday by ABC.
Diane Sawyer (search) conducted the interview for a special edition of ABC's "Primetime," (search) subtitled "Mel Gibson's Passion."
The numbers should be enough to land this edition of "Primetime" among the top 20 highest-rated shows of the week. They also indicate a strong appetite for the subject of Christ, especially as it pertains to the firestorm surrounding Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ."
The movie, which Gibson directed and produced, is scheduled to open in one week, on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25.
It's a graphic depiction of the bloody final hours of Jesus' life based on biblical accounts. For months, the movie has drawn accusations of anti-Semitism from Jewish groups angered by the movie's depiction of the role of Jews in Christ's crucifixion.
Gibson was last interviewed on the subject in The New Yorker last September and does not appear poised to make the talk-show rounds in the coming week.
His only booking appears to be "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Feb. 26, the day after the movie's release.
In the meantime, NBC's "Dateline" will have a full hour Friday night (beginning at 9) on the final days of Christ. The show, anchored by Stone Phillips, uses the movie as a jumping-off point for an in-depth look at what is known and not known about Christ's final days.
The show uses ancient texts, plus interviews with experts who can interpret them, to retrace Christ's activities in the days leading up to his crucifixion.
And Sunday night, Pax TV (Ch. 31) will present Gibson's own documentary about the making of his movie, titled "The Making of 'The Passion of the Christ' " (9-10 p.m.).
The special includes interviews with the movie's cast and crew - including Gibson - although the director does not use the "Making of" special to address the controversy surrounding the film, a Pax spokeswoman said.
It's too darn bad that Mel Gibson has been ridiculed for putting to film exactly what the Gospels stated. For putting to words what he believes. Haven't his First Amendment Rights been violated? Doesn't he deserve "equal protection under the Constitution".
I was never taught, nor do I believe that the Jews who lived during that time were responsible for Jesus's execution. Oh, a few people were really ticked off at Him, big time. He was a threat to the establishment's power. He was taking them on, entering into their territory, but no way could anything or anyone interfere in Jesus's ultimate destiny. Perhaps, Pontius Pilate could have, actually he was the only mortal who could do so, but perhaps not, a higher power was in charge.
The road to Jesus's death was our road to salvation.
The "controversial" car chase scene will be included in Stone Phillips' Dateline story, when he interviews those biblical "experts."
It was a Mel Gibson Love-in. If it had been some preacher on the other end of the interview talking about faith and the Passion and other bible doctrines she certainly would have asked. Gay marriage is the hot topic of the day and it is so because of religion. I actually believe Mel is a strong enough Catholic to have poopooed gay marriage but she spared him the embarassment. If he was joe preacher next door there wouldn't have been any issue to say the truth because he doesn't have a fan base to keep happy.
Actually 75 percent of the interview was about Mel, 20 percent was about the movie and 5 percent was about the subject of the movie.
According to my sources, its back in. Its the flashback scene where Jesus smashes his Ferrari through the temple courtyard.
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