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In Houston this month, Gibson screened the unfinished film for a group of Catholic, Jewish and Protestant leaders--all of whom signed a confidentiality agreement. That day one of the attendees, Rabbi Eugene Korn, director of Interfaith Affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, told the Houston Chronicle, "We still have grave concerns," and the ADL elaborated on them in a press release. This breach rankled other leaders, who signed a group letter sent privately to the ADL (a draft of which was obtained by TIME): "The Passion is a powerful and graphic film ... We do not all agree on the effect, presentation or accuracy of the film. [But] we are deeply disappointed in and saddened by the tactics employed by Rabbi Eugene Korn and the Anti-Defamation League ... We call on Rabbi Korn and the ADL to apologize to Mel Gibson."
Gibson's Hollywood posse is in his corner. "The story is controversial," says Joel Silver, who has produced five Mel-odramas (four Lethal Weapons and a Conspiracy Theory). "What this man [Jesus] was doing was new; people felt threatened by it and wanted him gone. Well, Mel's taken this timeless story and made it feel contemporary, as he did with Braveheart."
Dean Devlin, co-producer of Gibson's Braveheart, is also passionate for The Passion. "I thought it was an amazingly powerful piece of work," he says. "I didn't find it in the least bit anti-Semitic, and I'm Jewish. In the film I saw, everybody turns against Christ. This film doesn't cast blame on anyone. It casts blame on everyone. The last thing Mel wanted was for anyone to try to use this to justify hatred."
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who expressed his own concerns about The Passion, says the center has received a flood of angry calls and rancorous e-mail. "Not all of them are hateful," he says. "Some of them invite us to become Christians." Hier won't demonize Gibson. "I don't believe he is an anti-Semite. But I do think he has a responsibility here. Wonders can be done to a film in the editing room. Corrections can be made. That is, if he's interested in healing this issue."
Healing is Gibson's prime task, says a seasoned Hollywood marketing executive. "They've got the worst kind of controversy, the kind that goes to the core of their credibility," the executive says, noting that films like The Last Temptation of Christ and Priest grossed less than $10 million at the box office. "Gibson has to show it to Jewish religious leaders, as well as prominent cultural and intellectual figures. The public has to feel there's an overwhelmingly favorable consensus among people who might be offended."
Gibson is still honing the film, which may open late this year. He recently cut a conversation between Caiaphas and Pilate about the mocking sign (KING OF THE JEWS) on Jesus' cross. The edit was supposedly made not out of religious sensitivity but to trim the film's running time--though Devlin's one criticism of the film was "I wouldn't mind if it was longer." He adds, "I don't know if there will be wide appeal to go see it, but I think the vast majority of people who do see it will be moved to tears by it." Matt Drudge, the Internet tattler (who is Jewish), called The Passion a "total tears" experience.