a kind note from a mother whose child was one of the models at the "end times" shoot.

Hi Jill,
You might remember me, I'm Grace Dever's Mom Rebecca.
I have felt compelled over the last week to drop you a line and say how very ridiculous and unnecessary I think all of the criticism that has fallen on you and End Times lately is. (Ok, the hand slaps for the parents suck as well but that's beside the point) I was so completely touched by the imagery in your project and the message behind it. The children are just so amazingly stunning. I too feel like this is a pretty un-fortuitous time to bring children into this world. But then again, this world would be so much more bleak not to have them to celebrate and love.

Anyway, I'm sure you are being inundated with emails right now so I'll keep this brief.... I just wanted to lend my support to you in any way I can. I saw in you a level of compassion and empathy you displayed when Grace (finally) did become a little tearful while working that touched my heart. For anyone to call you cruel is simply asinine. Really, who lets their kid have candy simply because taking it from them will make them cry? (I take it from my girls almost daily simply because they aren't allowed to have any.... they are quite accustomed to it. LOL)
Know that myself and many other Mothers of your models are firmly behind you!

By the way, "Faker"... OH MY GOD!!!!!! I had absolutely no clue at all that that shot of Grace was even on your site. I looked at the End Times section on manipulator a million times since the exhibit came out but did not think to look at the children's section of your portfolio since the first time I did back when Grace was booked months ago. (to see what kind of work you did., I loved it!) A friend directed me there a few days ago and I'm just without words. You are an unbelievable artist, Jill. Plain and simple. You utterly captured my fantastic imp at exactly her most petulant and beautiful moment. I see this expression daily but never thought to ever try and capture it. That you did so, so poignantly just floored me. Thank you. And thank you for sending the jpeg. I'm so proud to put Jill Greenberg right up at the top of Grace's resume.

Yours,
Rebecca Dever....

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY
from Rob Schneider

[reprinted without permission of either variety or rob schneider, FYI]

I, Rob Schneider, a l/2 Jew, pledge from this day forth to never
work with Me1 Gibson-actor-director-producer-and anti-Semite.
Even if Mr. Gibson offered me the lead role in “Passion of the Christ 2”,
I, like Bernie Brillstein, would have to say “NO!" Even if Me1 had a juicy voice-
over role in his new flick “Apocalypto” andI spoke ancient Mayan, I, like
Bernie Brillstein would still have to say “NO!”
Even if “Apocalypto”is a gigantic smash and Mr. Gibson is quietly forgiven
by Hollywood’s Power Brokers, and I was offered a lead role opposite Me1
Gibson’s Father, (the Mad Max of Holocaust deniers) I, like Bernie Brillstein would likely have to say "NO!"
Even though I have just completed principal photography on my directorial debut in my upcoming motion picture "Big Stan" (A Prison Comedy) in which there is a Nazi gang leader, which apparently Mel would be PERRRR-FECT for, and I had a Time Machine and could go back in time and RE-CAST the lead Nazi, I, like Bernie Brillstein would most likely have to say “NO !
Of course that would be only after i talked with my financial backers,
some of whom share Mr. Gibson's hankering for a good bottle of Tequila.

Because, after all...

I don't get to call all the shots.

Sincerely Yours,

Rob Schneider


P.S. You won’t see ME at Taverna Tony’s in Malibu anytime soon!

Jill Greenberg on GMA

diane sawyer doesn't seem to take the non-real-world-idiot-driven accusations of child abuse very seriously. typical liberal media at work!

The Poor Man Institute
(UPDATED TO REFLECT MY TOTAL CONFUSION ON THIS ISSUE)
the poor man answers your mel gibson questions. Definitively.

huzzah to ari emanuel (also known as jeremy piven, confusingly) for his piece in the huffpo as well. he shows guts by saying hollywood should shun gibson. inasmuch as an agent is showing guts by trying to sabotage another agent's client's opportunity to work on big movies that his own client...

wow, is that cynical. i take it back, i take it back. i genuinely believe that what mr. emanuel is saying is right. no one who doesn't believe what mel believes, i.e. that the holocaust is overblown, and that jews are belligerent scum should hire him. those that agree with those views, by all means. i'm sure the iranian film commission and president ahmenijad would be happy to put mel in the new "drive israel into the sea" thriller.

i will stop now. i'm hoping to still be hired by someone someday in this business, and i believe there is still a bridge left unburned.

although...

Brian Lowry makes some excellent points as well here in Variety. since it is behind a moneywall, to wit:

AT FIRST GLANCE, it would be hard to imagine stranger bedfellows than Mel Gibson and Oliver Stone.

Still, advance publicity surrounding Stone's fundamentally apolitical film "World Trade Center" (which prompted second-guessing from conservatives over whether the conspiracy-minded filmmaker is an appropriate vessel for this patriotic tale) gave way to talk of "professionally shunning" Gibson, as Endeavor principal Ari Emanuel suggested on Huffingtonpost.com.

The anti-Semitic remarks attributed to Gibson following his drunk-driving arrest are contemptible, just as some of Stone's movies bastardize history. Nevertheless, the broader notion of applying ideological or character tests to talent -- or prejudging projects based on who's associated with them -- is as close to the proverbial slippery slope as anyone should be eager to step.

Right-wing pundits already have a field day demonizing "Hollywood liberals," tarring even benign projects with that label. Some threw silly hissy fits over "Superman Returns" because the Man of Steel is said to stand for "truth, justice, all that stuff" -- ostensibly dropping "the American way" from his repertoire. Damn ungrateful Kryptonian illegal aliens.

Lost amid the din, of course, is the ideal of evaluating artistic works on their merits, as opposed to the increasingly common and distasteful practice of flatly dismissing any material from those with whom one disagrees.

The problem is that once you begin contemplating boycotts over boorish behavior and despicable opinions, where does it end? Good luck finding bankable casts for that next movie or TV show. Media moguls and sports tycoons, after all, have never exclusively employed choirboys, what with the historic link between big money and bigger excess.

Even before the inevitable apology tour, Gibson has cemented his status as a Leno punch line, and no one is required to work with or otherwise help further enrich him -- just as they needn't buy Dixie Chicks CDs, patronize Ludacris concerts or see Stone's next movie.

Clearly, it's naive to think such entertainment decisions can be disentangled from politics. Yet most Hollywood leaders' reticence to join in publicly pillorying Gibson might have something to do with this wider view, and the realization that allowing professional undertakings to become a referendum on personal lives is a slow conveyer belt to Hell -- one where the ox that's gored, in the long run, just might be their own.

That makes sense to me as well. i hate it when i think two people are right and they totally disagree with each other. it is such cognitive dissonance that makes me a liberal, i suppose.

Jill on RTL

They're German. They're a network. we like them. interview happening now, we will post it when it is available. also will be posting Good Morning America via the magic of YouTube.

also, Jill's Bacardi ad is all over Miami Vice apparently.

also, it has come to my attention that some of you are reading my blog and actually like the ideas or the writing. i strongly discourage this, as it will only spur me to write on it more.