Disney's Mel Gibson campaign

Was it just a few months back that Disney was considered in a no-win position as the distributor of Gibson's "Apocalypto"? Well, the film topped the box office charts in its first weekend, got generally good reviews and today it received a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign-language film (because it had the Mayan dialect). Turns out that the Mouse House is not just grudgingly releasing the film, it's marketing it as an awards contender. Yow! Nikki Finke says that Disney's campaign will center on convincing Academy members that he's "not as bad as Roman or Woody" and that voters should "look at Mel the artist and not Mel the man." Finke doesn't cite the source of her information, but It's wouldn't be all that surprising, considering that Oren Aviv, the head of Disney's film studio, seemed to be giving Gibson the benefit of the doubt right after the drunk-driving arrest (and anti-semitic tirade). "We all make mistakes and I've accepted his apology to what was a regrettable situation. I wish him the very best on his path to healing," he said in August. Just wondering: Would any of this be different if Michael Eisner were still running the show? From Finke's LA Weekly column:

Disney execs are seriously telling the media and Oscar voters that Gibson’s drunken anti-Semitic ranting was not as bad as Polanski having sex “with an underage girl,” or Allen having sex “with his stepdaughter.” They’re also pointing to Elia Kazan’s “naming names” before the House Un-American Activities Committee to try to bring what Mel did into, uh, perspective, when it comes to judging Apocalypto.