Mel Gibson accuser pens e-book about star’s anti-Semitism

As if the experience hadn’t already been disastrous enough, Mel Gibson has a new reason to regret trying to make a movie about Judah Maccabee.

Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter behind the project, on Saturday released “Heaven and Mel,”  an e-book about their ill-fated partnership, which ended in April, when Eszterhas made public a letter accusing Gibson of anti-Semitism. ““Much of it is amusing, some of it is very serious and has to do with anti-Semitism and questions of values . . . I view it as a terrific tale,” Eszterhas told entertainment website The Wrap, referring to the new Kindle e-book.

“Heaven and Mel” marks another blow for Gibson, who raised eyebrows worldwide with reports that he’d be directing a film version of the Hanukka story. The project was called off in March by Warner Brothers, which cited flaws in Eszterhas’ script, according to the screenwriter’s open letter to Gibson. The letter went on to accuse Gibson of Holocaust denial, and said the “Braveheart” start blamed Jews for the death of Pope John Paul I, among other allegations.

Eszterhas, whose earlier screenplays include “Flashdance,” “Basic Instinct” and “Showgirls,” has claimed he entered the partnership with Gibson in good faith, and didn’t consider him an anti-Semite even after the controversy over Gibson’s portrayal of Jews in “The Passion of the Christ.” (He claims he changed his mind after Gibson’s infamous 2006 drunk driving arrest, but signed on for the Hanukka movie anyway.)

Gibson hasn’t commented publicly about the new e-book.