Mel Gibson is not done surprising people, but this time it's professionally. The actor and filmmaker got wonderful reviews for his role in The Beaver, and the film was extremely well received critically. Now, he's planning on making a film about the heroic story of Jewish warrior, Judah Maccabee.
Deadline.com are reporting the news, and saying the plot would centre on the real life Maccabee, who teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the second century B.C. Deadline are also saying that Maccabee was a cousin of fodder for Braveheart, William Wallace - so given the scale of the content, Gibson would seem the perfect choice to direct. Well, if you ignore the press around his person life that is.
Writing the script along with Gibson is legendary screenwriter, Joe Eszterhas, who was the superstar writer of the 80s and early 90s and commanded millions of dollars for his work on the likes of Basic Instinct and Flashdance. Eszterhas drew criticism from the Hungarian government - his own country - for his script on the film, Music Box, which drew attention to the massacre of Hungarian Jews by their fellow countrymen during World War 2. Gibson is not officially attached to direct, but is producing and co-writing the script, and may be testing the waters with media reaction.