While many directors are all too content to mine a seam, German-born filmmaker Wim Wenders (“Wings of Desire,” “The Buena Vista Social Club,” “Paris, Texas,” the ambitious “Until the End of the World”) has enjoyed a delightfully diverse career, jumping back and forth between narrative and nonfiction works. His latest film, the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-nominated documentary “Pina,” taps into his decades-long friendship with the late, lauded choreographer Pina Bausch, imaginatively exploring her work in 3-D by utilizing the dancers of her Tanztheater Wuppertal ensemble. In a wide-ranging, half-hour chat — with Dave Matthews Band, the Yeah Yeahs and other light rock tunes unfolding at a remove in the background of the lush…

Mel Gibson’s Icon label is still developing his epic Viking period film that he will direct, Slashfilm is reporting. Randall Wallace, who previously worked with the filmmaker on ‘Braveheart,’ has turned in a second script draft for the movie. The news of the continued work on the Viking film, which Gibson said he wanted to work partially in a bygone version of the Norse language, comes as Icon made a deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for his action movie ‘Get The Gringo.’ The deal is for a direct-to-consumer release, leading the movie to exclusively premiere on May 1, 2012 on DirecTV. The deal will charge $10.99 per home…

Michelle Bombshell a.k.a. Michelle McGee could be thought of as a veteran of celebrity boxing. Last year she faced off against porn star Gina Lynn for the Celebrity Wrestling Federation. This time around for “Celebrity Fight Night,” she’ll be fighting Violet Kowal, who has been linked to Mel Gibson as his mistress. “I don’t know why I’m fighting Violet,” she said. “I had wanted to fight Tila Tequila. I guess she was a little scared,” she said with a laugh. However, Kowal isn’t going to be any pushover–she will be extreme competition for McGee in the ring. “She’s in really good shape,” she said. “She’s a fitness instructor.” But, McGee…

Robert Downey, Jr. tried to revitalize Mel Gibson’s public image while receiving the American Cinematheque Award at the Beverly Hills Hilton by telling the crowd the actor-director deserves forgiveness, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ actor first surprised Hollywood by choosing Gibson, with whom he starred in 1990′s ‘Air America,’ to present him with the award on October 14. Then while accepting the award, Downey said that while he was trying to overcome his drug abuse, Gibson told him to “hug the cactus” of embracing humility and asking forgiveness. He then said “Unless you are without sin-and if you are, you’re in the wrong…

Welcome to a new segment called “Top 10 Shocking Stories,” where we’ll be discussing the top ten stories of the week. Ordinarily, the top stories of the week would still be about the second episodes of the new fall shows, such as “The New Girl,” “Pan Am,” “The Playboy Club,” “Prime Suspect” and others, as well as the first episode of “Terra Nova.” But, all news has been obliterated by Michael Jackson–the involuntary manslaughter case of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, started Monday, Sept. 26, and that’s dominated a lot of the news cycle. So, with that introduction, here are the links to some of the stories America–or, in the case…

It would seem that another version of the Judah Maccabee story is in development, which has made this entire ongoing Mel Gibson “Judah Maccabee” saga even more interesting. Bruce Nash, producer of “Modern Marvels,” is currently working on a version of the Hanukkah story for a potential television miniseries or movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This news comes three weeks after Warner Bros. announced they were working with Mel Gibson to create a movie about Judah Maccabee. However, Gibson’s movie has been rebuked by leaders in the Jewish community due to Gibson’s anti-Semitic comments a few years ago. The dislike the public still has for Gibson is making the…

Just as I said yesterday, the developments surrounding the Mel Gibson-produced “Judah Maccabee” film would be interesting. Already, there is a backlash. According to The Hollywood Reporter, several Jewish leaders are angry at Warner Bros. and Mel Gibson for making the film about the Jewish leader who led an uprising against Greek-Syrian armies in the second century B.C. “Judah Maccabee deserves better,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti Defamation League, to The Hollywood Reporter. “He is a hero of the Jewish people and a universal hero in the struggle for religious liberty. It would be a travesty to have his story told by one who has no respect…

Technically, this should probably be under the “Movies” subheading, but I’m labeling this as a Daily Shock because I think I’m like everyone else in thinking that Mel Gibson’s career in movies was dead in the water. According to GeekTyrant, Gibson and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas are working on an untitled film for Warner Bros. that will be a biopic of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee. Maccabee, along with his four brothers and father, led the Jewish revolt against Greek-Syrian armies that conquered Judea in second century B.C. Gibson is not officially on board as the director, but he has the first option. Right now, he is only in a producing and…

For all her success as an actress, Jodie Foster has had one of the more strangely cursed modern-day careers as a director. She’s made some good movies (“Little Man Tate” remains underrated), but she’s also had countless projects fall apart, including a wonderfully scripted period piece circus tale which Russell Crowe was attached to for quite some time, before a shoulder injury finally scuttled production for good at the last moment. “The Beaver” represents Foster’s latest Waterloo, through no particular fault of her own. A unique and well regarded debut script from writer Kyle Killen made the rounds in Hollywood, and for a while had Steve Carell attached to star. When…

In this recent interview at Cannes, actor Mel Gibson talks with Variety about his film “The Beaver” by director Jodie Foster and starring Mel Gibson, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Cherry Jones and Jodie Foster. Click Here for more photos, news and videos from The Beaver. Synopsis: Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster directs and co-stars with two-time Academy Award winner Mel Gibson in THE BEAVER – an emotional story about a man on a journey to re-discover his family and re-start his life. Plagued by his own demons, Walter Black was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter…