Outrage at unauthorised screening of Gibson film

Mel Gibson is reportedly consulting with lawyers after the New York Post newspaper obtained a bootlegged copy of his controversial film The Passion Of Christ and screened it for a news story.

The newspaper showed it to a rabbi, a priest, a religion professor, their own critic and a reader selected at random. A reporter interviewed the panellists and wrote up their reactions – most of them negative.

The film is not due to be released until February 25 and the Post’s actions have caused outrage in Hollywood, where studio heads have denounced it variously as “horrible“, “bad ethics” and “a complete lack of compassion for artists… a violation almost beyond words“.

A spokesman for the Post defended the paper by saying it was covering the controversy surrounding Gibson’s depiction of Jews in his film about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

“With so much controversy and attention surrounding this film we feel this is a legitimate news story,” said the spokesman.