Warner Bros. Rejects Mel Gibson's Screenplay About Jewish Icon, Playwrite Calls Gibson An Anti-Semite

Warner Bros. has officially turned down Mel Gibson's new screenplay about biblical Jewish figure Judah Maccabees, THR reports.

The Oscar winner was planning to produce and possibly star in the film, which was written by Joe Eszterhas, the mastermind behind such classics as Basic Instinct and Showgirls.

Eszterhas has been vocal about the script's rejection and posted a blistering 9-page letter which exposes a serious rift between the writer and his boss, Gibson, saying:

"I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason you won’t make ‘The Maccabees’ is the ugliest possible one. You hate Jews."

Whoa! It's a serious accusation, but not the first time anti-semitism claims have been lodged against Gibson.

Here's more from the letter, obtained by TheWrap.com:

"You continually called Jews 'Hebes' and 'oven-dodgers' and 'Jewboys.' It seemed that most times when we discussed someone, you asked 'He’s a Hebe, isn’t he?' You said most 'gatekeepers' of American companies were 'Hebes' who 'controlled their bosses.

You said the Holocaust was 'mostly a lot of horses**t.' You said the Torah made reference to the sacrifice of Christian babies and infants. When I told you that you were confusing the Torah with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, ... you insisted 'it's in the Torah -- it's in there!' (It isn't)."

He says the only reason Gibson wants to make The Maccabees, was so he could “convert the Jews to Christianity.”