Scifiwire Movie News (6/13/2003) - Passion, King Conan, Mission Impossible 3

[Granite]

In this Issue

Mel Gibson talks Passion
Arnold up for King Conan
Mission Impossible:3 delayed

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Mel Gibson talks Passion

Mel Gibson issued a statement to Variety rebutting criticism that his upcoming film The Passion, about the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ, is anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic. "To be certain, neither I nor my film is anti-Semitic," Gibson said in the statement.

"The Passion is a movie meant to inspire, not offend," Gibson added. "My intention in bringing it to the screen is to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds (or none), who have varying familiarity with this story."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had been critical of The Passion, but recently apologized for criticizing a film that has yet to be finished, the trade paper reported. It agreed to return all unauthorized copies of the script obtained by its members.

Gibson's production company, Icon, is in talks with the Anti-Defamation League, which also criticized the film, for a similar resolution, the trade paper reported.

The controversy over The Passion was sparked in March by a profile of Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, in the New York Times Magazine. The profile explored the traditionalist and controversial Catholic beliefs of the actor's father, which are not condoned by the Roman Catholic Church, the trade paper reported. The story also quoted the elder Gibson as denying the Holocaust ever took place.
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Arnold up for King Conan

Arnold Schwarzenegger told an audience at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention that he will definitely be involved in the proposed sequel film King Conan: Crown of Iron. But the actor added that he is still waiting for a finished script. "I don't think there's any doubt about my interest in Conan," he said. "I love the character of Conan. I think it's one of the most wonderful characters I've ever played in my whole movie career."

The film is currently in development at Warner Brothers, under the supervision of The Matrix creators Larry and Andy Wachowski. Schwarzenegger said that development on the project is moving slowly due to the Wachowskis' commitment to the release this year of the second and third films in the Matrix franchise. "Warner Brothers has the rights to Conan, and the Wachowski brothers are supposed to be in charge of it," Schwarzenegger said. "But obviously, as you can see, they're heavily involved in bringing out their next movie. I think as soon as they come to me and say we have a new script, and it's ready to go to the next stage, we'll sit down and talk about it."
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Mission Impossible:3 delayed

Paramount Pictures moved off its planned May 2004 opening for its Tom Cruise sequel film Mission: Impossible 3, Variety reported. The film won't begin shooting until January; no new release date has been set.

[drunkenGuru]

I'm a HUGE conan fan... loved the original one... was hoping that the series would be completed... but the matrix guys?