By With absolutely no ulterior motives. Mel Gibson, along with acclaimed screenwriter Joe Ezterhas, will be making a historical film about the story of Judah Maccabee, possibly the third most important Jew in history after Jesus and Moses. For you gentiles, the Maccabees rebelled against the Greeks and Syrians that invaded Judea in 200 B.C. The story of the Maccabees also spawned the Jewish holiday of Hannukah, where the Maccabees had to hole up in a temple, and they only had enough oil to light the lamps for one day, but THANKS GOD! It lasted eight days.
Before you start shouting “Oh, he’s just making up for his anti-Semitic remarks!,” remember that this is a movie he actually was talking about well before he started falling out of the limelight, as Judah Maccabee is actually a distant relative of Braveheart protagonist William Wallace. Though, really, it’s not like it’s ENTIRELY unrelated to making him look a little better.
[Via Deadline]