Heaven and Mel (Kindle Single)

We all know Mel Gibson is a hater and a loon. This book is repetitive, lurid, and pointless. Eszterhas gets his creativity back soon, and stops wasting his great talent on tacky Hollywood tell-alls. This book is both an intriguing look into the mind of a working screenwriter and a testament of the worst excesses of 'stardom' and misunderstood religion. A tragic tale of a once luminescent talent. Sep 07, Donna rated it liked it Shelves: I decided to read this book after watching the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" which I thought was a brilliant movie in spite of the fact that I was aware that Mel Gibson has been much accused of being a tyrant and an anti-semite.

This book certainly confirms those two aspects of his personality but does not diminish the brilliance of the movie. I did not in any way feel sympathetic to the author as he seemed to be a nut job born again Catholic Christian and seemed to revel in the abuse that Mel dished ou I decided to read this book after watching the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" which I thought was a brilliant movie in spite of the fact that I was aware that Mel Gibson has been much accused of being a tyrant and an anti-semite.

I did not in any way feel sympathetic to the author as he seemed to be a nut job born again Catholic Christian and seemed to revel in the abuse that Mel dished out. The fact that he subjected his wife, who seemed to also accept Mel's abusive and oddly generous hospitality, and his teenage son seemed bizarre to me. He kept going back for more and some how justifying it. This may be a true account of Mel and the man may well be in need of medical help. I will never admire anyone who is an anti semite but I also do not admire anyone who thinks that he is given his inspiration for writing a Jewish Braveheart can be given God given inspiration.

May 05, Hank Pharis rated it did not like it. Mel Gibson is an enigma. I have enjoyed many of his movies including "The Passion. I saw this book advertized in audible and thought: The author, Joe Eszterhas, made some infamously sex focused films before supposedly becoming a devout Catholic. So one level they seemed to be compatible to make the Maccabee Mel Gibson is an enigma.

So one level they seemed to be compatible to make the Maccabees movie. But this book seems to be about revenge. Eszterhas worked for a year writing a script for Gibson and never got paid. But according to him he did witness all sorts of crazy behavior by Gibson. Both of them come off very badly in this book. Joe Eszterhas is hired to write a script for a "Jewish Braveheart" movie which Mel Gibson will direct called "The Maccabees" - except when the script was written, the studio Warner Bros. The picture was dead in the water and Joe felt Mel had led him on, that Mel never intended to make the movie at all, it was all just PR to help his image.

So Joe got his own back on Mel, writing this tell-all book about his time with Mel Gibso Joe Eszterhas is hired to write a script for a "Jewish Braveheart" movie which Mel Gibson will direct called "The Maccabees" - except when the script was written, the studio Warner Bros. So Joe got his own back on Mel, writing this tell-all book about his time with Mel Gibson and it's pretty revealing.

The book is great fun to read, confirming what most people already think about Mel Gibson - that he is losing his mind. There are moments in the book where he flat out starts screaming and raging for no real reason, one time flying off the handle because he sees a picture of himself looking old and balding!

We get to peek behind the curtain at the privileged life of Mel's, his luxury Malibu home, his church, his mansion in the Costa Rican mountainside - it's really an amazing life which makes his unhappiness all the more palpable. As for the content about Mel, the crazy stuff was already written about in the 9 page letter from Joe which preceded this book, though there are some other revelations about Mel such as his hair implants and the nickname for his penis - "Benny the Rat".

The book sets the scene for the crazed rants well and shows a man who has it all behaving like a spoilt brat. It's a refreshing look at a movie star from the kind of softball interviews we tend to see on TV and junkets.

Heaven and Mel (Kindle Single)

While Mel comes across as a sociopath and a man on his way to a breakdown or heart attack, Joe comes across as a bit sanctimonious and above it all, like a lot of fervent religious people. To Joe, God is always giving him signs to guide him in his life, at times literally speaking to Joe, who wears Christian medallions to protect himself from the demons assaulting him as he writes about the Maccabees.

He even goes so far as to burn a painting his teenage son did of Mephistopheles with his son's consent but still. And while he is highly principled, the heart he writes about as guiding him through his life seems to be missing when it's revealed to him that his father participated in pro-Nazi literature in the 30s and 40s, something he never forgave his father for, cutting him out of his life entirely, even forsaking him on his deathbed.

So this is a book about two odd men though Mel comes across far the worse and yes I do believe it to be an accurate depiction of the actor. There's too much evidence to believe otherwise, and if you want to hear the tape Joe's son Nick made of Mel blowing up in Costa Rica during dinner, it's on Youtube, have a listen. It's a compelling read and a sad portrait of a man once admired by many who clearly has some deep personality problems that have starting coming out more and more in the last 8 years.

Joe intimates that there are stories of Mel's behaviour going back to the 80s so Mel's lucky he got away with it for so long before others found out he was a disturbed and disturbing individual. Joe says he wrote this mostly because he wanted to protect himself and Mel's former wife, Oksana, whom Mel makes several threatening remarks about in Joe's presence, along the lines that he's going to have her killed.

If he puts this out there, anything that happens to him or Oksana is likely to lead back to Mel and so put him off from following through with his threats. Mostly, I think it's good that a bully like Mel is being exposed for who he really is and that he's finally being punished for his shocking behaviour. For less than the price of a Starbucks coffee, "Heaven and Mel" is a delicious piece of Hollywood gossip from a gifted writer about one of the former biggest stars in the world.

Anyone interested in the Mel Gibson downfall will find plenty here to enjoy. This book certainly changed my idea of what a "Kindle Single" is, as it was quite cheap, and still took me a weekend to read albeit a busy weekend.

I started this book already under the belief that Mel Gibson is an anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, misogynist, abusive asshole. So I definitely had my choir robes on, ready for the preacher. And Joe Eszterhas didn't disappoint. Joe begins the book focusing on himself: Joe now wants to turn his talents to writing Catholic screenplays and feels the weight of the Holocaust on his back, so when an agent suggests that Mel Gibson is interested in developing a movie about the Maccabees, Joe feels wary but hopeful that Mel needs to make this movie as much as Joe does.

And then it all goes downhill. As his main vocation is a screenwriter, perhaps Joe let Mel's personality slowly build for narrative effect. Maybe it really did work that way, as is typical of abusive characters. But Mel goes from an aging, chainsmoking star deserving of pity to a rabid devil, paranoid of communist conspiracies in the church, and turning a Caribbean holiday into a nightmare where Joe's family goes to sleep with butcher knives under their pillows, just in case.

The real straw that seems to break Joe, however, is his discovery that Mel isn't concerned with making the Maccabees as atonement for some of his tirades; he wants to use Judah Maccabee as a Christ figure, in hopes it will convert Jews to Catholicism. The book ends with Joe's plea that Mel release his hold on the finished screenplay, so that someone who is willing will make the movie.

I hope that happens, too. Two stars is "it was ok". In this case, it means "it was ok for what it is". What it is is crap. Jow Eszterhas is probably the worst writer I have ever read.

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He is a sanctimonious, delusional, self-glorifying ass. He believes god talks to him about his movies. He believes the virgin sends signals to him and his producers greenlighting his scripts and even then, they don't get produced!

And he writes about another sanctimonious, delusional, self-glorifying ass, Mel Gibson. They r Two stars is "it was ok". They really sound pretty much the same to me, except one sounds angry and stupid, and the other sounds petty and stupid. Allegedly, the author had such fear of Mel Gibson he slept holding a rosary in one hand and a golf club in the other while staying at his house.

Then, after a year of working on a script with this man he feared so much, he takes his teenage son and wife to stay at Mel Gibson's house in a secluded, remote location in Costa Rica, so his son can go on long nature walks with Mel Gibson. How does that end? With the family so afraid of Mel Gibson they sleep with butcher knives under their pillows. That's beyond stupid, that's unbelievably stupid.

Mel Gibson Tell-All Book Released - ABC News

So, either the author is a moron, he's evil, or he's a liar. Please notice that those are not mutually exclusive explanations. If the average christian is anything like him and Mel Gibson, I sure am happy to be an atheist. Finally, the prose is awful. How a person so incapable of threading three sentences into a coherent paragraph has managed to make a living off his writing is a mistery. Eszterhas comes across as extremely sanctimonious and very unworldly in his retelling of what happened with Mel Gibson. Look, I despise Mel Gibson, and thought I might gain some insight through reading this.

But all I found out is that Joe Eszterhas is very religious, holier-than-thou, and naive all at the same time, and Mel Gibson is a chain smoking dirtbag. It was poorly written, very self-aware how many times did he say he wrote Basic Instinct and Showgirls?! I'm also glad to be done with it. I'm not interested in either of these jerks, whether or not they're pro Jew. Oct 16, Dustin rated it liked it Shelves: The author manages to keep the work engaging, but most readers are already going to be hooked by the chance to read yet more dirt on Mel Gibson, and the author uses that to its full advantage.

Honestly I was more interested in the story of the Maccabees screenplay than the Gibson stuff. It's tough to separate my feelings about the book from my feelings about the author. On the one hand, the book does get the "Hollywood Tell All" job done: On the other hand, it's hard for me to forgive that the author allowed his year-old son to spend unsupervised hours with Mel Gibson. Mar 25, Kay Claxton rated it liked it. I, also, will never watch Braveheart ever again, unless Mel Gibson gets some badly needed therapy.

To accept his anti-semitism and other racism , and misogyny as if it were somehow normal would be disloyal to all of our brothers and sisters all over the world. I, for one, refuse to do so!! Jul 29, D.

See a Problem?

Very entertaining and revealing about Mel Gibson and his outrageous temper and anger management problems. Only negative thing is Eszterhas's constant inclusion of his religious conversion. He already wrote one book about that, which was enough. Bringing himself into this story slows down the real story of his relationship with Gibson. Hard to believe that anyone in Hollywood would actually behave the way that is described here in this book.

Interesting read, if you're interested in Hollywood gossip. The pair had been working on a screenplay about Jewish freedom fighters, the Maccabees, though the screenplay was reject by Gibson and Warner Bros. Eszterhas, for the record, has also accused Gibson of making anti-Semitic statements and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend. This whole thing is interesting to me. Not because of Gibson--dude is crazy. Digital publishing seems to be opening some interesting new avenues--back in the day I don't know, last year?

Eszterhas could have gone to a magazine or TMZ and made a little coin on his story. Now he's out with a book about it, which will earn out for the rest of his life. It also shows that Amazon really wants to be taken seriously as a producer of content. I bet they paid a pretty penny for this one. Several million pennies, actually. And while I know we all like to pretend to be above this kind of thing, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking about downloading it now. It's OK to be curious. Is this the future of the celebrity tell-all?

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Are Kindle Singles or other digital accounts going to starting following celebrity scandal? He lives in New York City. Find him online at www. To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account. It's interesting to view the first Lethal Weapon and realize that Gibson wasn't giving an inspired performance but rather an unfiltered performance.