LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Does controversy, particularly religious controversy, help sell movies?
Miramax Films, which has never been shy about courting controversy, could benefit from it as it launches Peter Mullan's "The Magdalene Sisters," a drama set in 1960s Ireland about a home for girls run by a particularly abusive group of Catholic nuns.
It opens in limited release Friday amid objections from the Catholic League.
But Mel Gibson who has not yet secured a distributor for his privately financed "The Passion," an account of the last hours of Jesus Christ, may have reason to be concerned that his film has already become a flashpoint in a developing argument involving both Jews and Christians.
Ever since Miramax picked up distribution rights on "Magdalene," winner of the Golden Lion at last year's Venice International Film Festival, the Catholic League has been on its case.
In September, league president William Donohue called on the Walt Disney Co.'s board of directors to sever its ties with Miramax. And Tuesday, he reiterated his complaints, calling the movie anti-Catholic propaganda.
"The film portrays something that actually happened, and as with all movies that deal with particularly controversial subject matter, we think the public should see it and decide for themselves," a Miramax spokesman responded.
In reality, while the league's objections may earn Miramax some ink, they are unlikely to affect the film's fate. Last year, Samuel Goldwyn Films released "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" in the face of similar league protests, and it went on to gross $5.7 million, a tidy sum for an indie pickup.
But "Passion's" future is more problematic.
In June, the Anti-Defamation League issued a warning that an early version of the script contained "numerous anti-Semitic elements."
Gibson responded with a statement, assuring that "neither I nor my film is anti-Semitic." He has begun screening it for selected religious leaders and last week earned an endorsement from Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who called it "a beautiful, wonderful account of the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ."
But while Gibson is still editing the film and has not yet approached distributors, the brewing controversy is beginning to echo the furor that surrounded Martin Scorsese's 1988 "The Last Temptation of Christ" -- though in that case, it was evangelicals who led the attack on the film.
One marketing executive observed that potential distributors could view an endorsement like Haggard's "as an indication that there's an audience out there waiting for this movie."
But at the same time, the prospect of ending up in the middle of a religious controversy, especially one that could pit Jews against Christians, could make any distributor pause before striking a deal.
The worst-case scenario that could develop would resemble the situation writer-director Henry Bean encountered with "The Believer," his portrait of a young Jewish man who develops neo-Nazi sympathies.
Although it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film, the film could not win over a distributor after Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center raised objections to it.
Although the ADL spoke out in support of the film, eventually it went straight to a Showtime airing and a subsequent minor theatrical release through Fireworks Pictures.
Of course, Gibson being Gibson, the studios will not be able to quickly dismiss "The Passion," which by all accounts is a seriously intended effort that possibly harbors awards potential. And if necessary, Gibson can always argue that, controversy notwithstanding, he has God on his side.