Hollywood Developing Movie About Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal

Over at The Deacon’s Bench:

Details:

Variety reports that Win Win director Tom McCarthy is directing an untitled drama about the reporters at the Boston Globe who uncovered the original conspiracy to keep these deeds quiet. Not exactly lighthearted material to help close out the week, but since it’s the “story behind the story” that’s being put in the spotlight here, it should be more interesting than just another damning exposé.

The story will follow Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Matt Carroll, Walter “Robby” Robinson, Ben Bradlee Jr. and Marty Baron, the team of reporters at the Boston Globe who investigated thousands of pages of documents and conducted a myriad of interviews in the New England area to expose a scandal that rocked the Catholic Church. McCarthy has been working on this project in secret for over a year because of the “sensitivity of the subject matter,” and the tone of the screenplay by “The West Wing” writer Josh Singer is said to be similar to the classic Hoffman/Redford journalism film All the President’s Men.

Read more.

 

St Mary of the Angels Parish Votes to Secede from ACA

The Anglo-Catholic parish of St. Mary of the Angels which is embroiled in a legal and ecclesiastical battle over its property and priest has, by a 2/3 majority, voted to leave the Anglican Church in America and join the Roman Catholic Church through the Ordinariate.

“We are officially independent as we continue on our journey to be received into the Ordinariate,” said Dr. Allan H. B. Trimpi, Senior Warden of St. Mary of the Angels. “Our new Articles of Incorporation are now on file with the California Secretary of State.”

“This is news to me. I have received nothing from the parish in this regard,” said ACA Presiding Bishop Brian Marsh, in an e-mail to VOL…

Read on at Virtue Online here.

Which kind of all makes the point I have just made for the need for authority, which requires both submission and obedience.

 

Judah Maccabee Film Will Go On – Mel Gibson

Without the screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who has alleged that Mel Gibson made a number of anti-Semitic comments during their collaboration on the script.

Here’s what Mel Gibson has to say:

Joe,

I have your letter. I am not going to respond to it line by line, but I will say that the great majority of the facts as well as the statements and actions attributed to me in your letter are utter fabrications. I would have thought that a man of principle, as you purport to be, would have withdrawn from the project regardless of the money if you truly believed me to be the person you describe in your letter. I guess you only had a problem with me after Warner Brothers rejected your script.

I will acknowledge like most creative people I am passionate and intense. I was very frustrated that when you arrived at my home at the expense of both Warner Brothers and myself you hadn’t written a single word of a script or even an outline after 15 months of research, meetings, discussions and the outpouring of my heartfelt vision for this story. I did react more strongly than I should have. I promptly sent you a written apology, the colorful words of which you apparently now find offensive. Let me now clearly apologize to you and your family in the simplest of terms.

Contrary to your assertion that I was only developing Maccabees to burnish my tarnished reputation, I have been working on this project for over 10 years and it was publicly announced 8 years ago. I absolutely want to make this movie; it’s just that neither Warner Brothers nor I want to make this movie based on your script.

Honestly, Joe, not only was the script delivered later than you promised, both Warner Brothers and I were extraordinarily disappointed with the draft. In 25 years of script development I have never seen a more substandard first draft or a more significant waste of time. The decision not to proceed with you was based on the quality of your script, not on any other factor.

I think that we can agree that this should be our last communication.

Mel

I’m glad for I was looking forward to the film, like I said here when news first broke on the production of this film.

Joe Eszterhas’ nine page letter against Gibson can be read here, but I must warn you in advance, it’s ugly and has some rather strong and vulgar language.

 

Hollywood Plans Biblical Films

We’ve mentioned some of these coming films on this blog before.

Robert Downey Jr Urges Hollywood: ‘Forgive Mel Gibson’

It befalls a Jewish-Buddhist (or Jewbu – Robert Downey, Jr) to make the call.  MSNBC reports:

Los Angeles — It was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr.’s night, but somehow Friday’s American Cinematheque Award ceremony became all about Mel Gibson.

When the evening’s honoree took to the stage at the Beverly Hills Hilton to accept his doorstop, he had a clear message for Hollywood.

“I urge you to forgive my friend his trespasses,” Downey said to loud applause. “Allow him to pursue this art without shame.”

It was Gibson who handed out the award to the “Iron Man” star. That was a choice Downey made clear he had made in part to help his friend rehabilitate his image.

Gibson has become something of an industry pariah in the wake of taped phone calls during which he had used racial slurs and threatened to beat his estranged girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. Prior to that, Gibson was already on thin ice with Hollywood, having made anti-Semitic remarks when he was arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence.

Gibson was dropped from a cameo in “Hangover 2″ after cast members rebelled, although lately Warner Brothers has made a deal with the actor-director to explore an action film about a Biblical-era Jewish rebellion against oppressors. That too has drawn angry responses from Jewish leaders.

Downey, who had well-publicized bouts with drinking and drug abuse, said that by sticking up for Gibson, he was simply returning the favor. After his imprisonment and arrests on drug charges made him uninsurable and thus prevented him from being hired in Hollywood, it was Gibson who stepped up and paid his insurance bond on the 2003 film “The Singing Detective.”

“He kept a roof over my head and put food on my table,” Downey remembered.

He said that all Gibson asked in return was that Downey do the same for another person who was struggling…

More here.

 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes and What It Says

… About Our Increasingly Post Modern, Post Human Culture.

Do read what Msgr Charles Pope has to say.

… the Movie seems interesting enough.

But even more interesting, in a troubling way, is the self-loathing increasing numbers in the post modern, post human West who seem to think that the best thing man can do is decrease and die. A tragic, but inevitable outcome of the culture of death, buffeted by waves of relativism, and a rejection of Biblical Revelation;  a Revelation that describes man as flawed, yet God’s highest and noblest creature here on earth, loved for his own sake; loved by God who made him, and who gave him the whole world to cherish and use with moderation and gratitude.

Brad Pitt Says Christian Upbringing Was ‘Stifling’

What a pity…

 

Brad Pitt stars as a 1950s Texas man—a “lost soul in the modern world”—searching for the meaning of life in Terrence Malick’s new film, “Tree of Life.”

But the Missouri- bred Pitt has not found solace in traditional religion himself.

“When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn’t a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of self,” explained Pitt. “I had faith that I’m capable enough to handle any situation. There’s peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I’m responsible.”

“I got brought up being told things were God’s way, and when things didn’t work out, it was called God’s plan,” Pitt told reporters at the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. “I’ve got my issues with it. Don’t get me started. I found it very stifling.”

Pitt’s parents are Southern Baptist Conservatives and Pitt’s younger brother Doug is very active in his large church outside of Springfield, MO.

“I always had a lot of questions about the world, even in kindergarten,” Pitt told Parade magazine several years ago. “A big question to me was fairness. If I’d grown up in some other religion, would I get the same shot at heaven as a Christian has?”

Pitt said he found himself after abandoning the religious beliefs he grew up with…

The great human delusion and the starting point of all sin: Self-sufficiency - I’m the master of my own destiny… apart from God.

Oh, and the ‘stifling’ rules? Well, they’re actually there for our protection Mr Pitt. And I’m really sorry that you’ve never bothered to look a little deeper, or ask someone who knows…

Playing ‘Jesus’ Can Ruin Your Acting Career

‘Playing Jesus wrecked my career’: Passion of the Christ actor said Hollywood has shunned him.

Reports the Daily Mail:

Actor Jim Caviezel has claimed his Hollywood career was wrecked by playing Jesus.

He said he was ‘rejected in my own industry’ after taking on the lead role in Mel Gibson’s controversial movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’.

Since playing the son of God in the 2004 film he said offers had dried up and he is shunned by many within the industry.

Although a box office hit taking more than $400million worldwide it was condemned as being anti-Semitic.

Gibson, the film’s director, was later accused of making anti-Jewish remarks after being arrested for drink driving.

Caviezel said he was warned against taking the part by Gibson who warned him he would never work in Hollywood again.

‘He said, “You’ll never work in this town again.” I told him, “We all have to embrace our crosses”.’ Caviezel told an audience of churchgoers in Orlando, Florida.

Since Passion of the Christ, the 42-year-old has only appeared in a handful of films.

Prior to playing Jesus he was considered one of Hollywood rising stars and appeared in The Count of Monte Cristo’ and ‘ngel Eyes with Jennifer Lopez.

One of his biggest hits was in 2000 with time-travel thriller Frequency opposite Dennis Quaid.

Caviezel, a devout Roman Catholic, said he knew playing Jesus would be risky.

‘Jesus is as controversial now as he has ever been,’ Caviezel said. ‘Not much has changed in 2,000 years.’…

Read the rest here

Well I thought he wasn’t such a bad actor.

Elizabeth Taylor Dies

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor has died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 79.

The Telegraph (UK) has her obituary:

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who died on March 23 aged 79, made more than 50 films, won two Oscars, was a grandmother at 39 and was married eight times to seven men…

(!)

Wikipedia has her life here.

RIP Elizabeth Taylor, almost-catholic.

Axeing Charlie Sheen Is Not Enough

The real problem is the executives who hired the disgraced TV star, nurtured him, cosseted him, and helped to destroy him.

MercatorNet:

Domestic violence, drug addiction, drunkenness, two and a half divorces, two live-in prostitutes. Sounds like a typical script for one of the most popular comedies on American television, “Two and a Half Men”. In fact, it is the recent life of the show’s star, Charlie Sheen.And when Sheen started acting out in real life the kind of script that Hollywood producers wrote for him, they fired him. “After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen’s services on ‘Two and a Half Men’ effective immediately,” said the press release.

The trigger for this move was an anti-Semitic tirade against one of the show’s producers after Sheen’s latest alcohol-drug-and-sex-fuelled bender.

Of course, anti-Semitism is deplorable. But why did the network wait until Sheen showed his bigoted side to wield the axe? Sheen had been behaving badly for years. At least one of his two ex-wives (the third has only just commenced divorce proceedings) and at least one ex-girlfriend has asked for restraining orders. Police have been often called to his home and hotels during domestic incidents. His attitude to women is unspeakable.

But, hey, that’s an exact match with the way Warner Brothers describes Sheen’s popular show:

“It’s a comedy about men, women, sex, dating, divorce, mothers, single parenthood, sibling relations, surrogate families, money and, most importantly, love. More specifically, it’s about the lives of two brothers, one brother’s son, and the many women who surround them. Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) is a well-to-do bachelor with a house at the beach, a Mercedes in the garage and an easy way with women.”

If Hollywood were held to the exacting social responsibility standards applied to any other industry or company, its reputation would be in tatters and its spin doctors would be in damage control overdrive. A corporate executive – even at CBS or Warner Brothers – behaving the way Sheen has done would have been dismissed long ago.

But Hollywood is different. It is allowed to destroy lives – not just of actors, but of audiences…

 Read on here.