Huh? Mel Gibson Attached to Direct Jewish Biopic

Remember, back in 2006, when Mel Gibson went on that drunken, anti-Semitic rant? Well, it looks like Mel is trying to make up for it...at least, he is if his development slate is any indication.

According to Deadline, Gibson is teaming up with screenwriter Joe Ezterhas to create a movie about the Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee, who led an uprising against the Greek-Syrian occupation of Judea back in the second century B.C.

This is yet another step on Gibson's road to a comeback, after he received attention for "The Beaver."

Of course it's a bit odd that Gibson is pursuing a project about a prominent figure in Jewish history, considering his offensive rant and the way that Jews were portrayed in "The Passion of the Christ," for which Gibson took some flack.

But when you consider some of Gibson's other projects, such as "Apocalypto," "The Patriot" and "Braveheart," a period action movie about a freedom fighter set a long way in the past is right in line with Gibson's style. And the fact that the freedom fighter happens to be Jewish could help Gibson to clear his soiled image a bit.

This should be an interesting project, and you can bet that people will be buzzing about it considering Gibson's train wreck of a recent past.