Getting pulled over is a stressful situation, no matter who you are. So it’s odd that the recreation of such a famous one — the DUI arrest of Mel Gibson in 2006 — can be so straight-up relaxing and peaceful.
This video from Bobby Fingers on YouTube is about a year old, so apologies for coming to it late. It’s more than worth a watch however in this, the Year of our Lord, 2023.
It’s not just his calming Irish brogue whispered into the mic to create ASMR levels of chills (he’s also legitimately funny while showing every painstaking step and detail); it’s Bobby’s attention to detail — like how he sculpts a full-sized head of Gibson just to make a smaller one. Bobby takes real pride in his work, discussing his whittling and painting effects he uses to make the Malibu cliffs look more realistic. And despite plenty of replicas of old Ford Crown Vic cop cars existing in the world already, he creates this one entirely from scratch. He even creates an interior for the cruiser.
But the end of the video? The end is perfect. It includes a jazz trio, a burial of the final product, and a promise to whoever finds the diorama (the coordinates are hidden in the video) can keep the damn thing, as Bobby doesn’t think too highly of Mel Gibson or his actions and words on that notorious evening. (The diorama was found in August shortly after the video was posted.)
The diorama recreates the late July 2006 drunk driving arrest of Gibson on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Police clocked Gibson as speeding along at 85 mph just after 2 a.m. on the world-famous highway. Police reported finding opened containers in Gibson’s car, and Gibson himself blew a 0.12 percent BAC, according to CNN. Gibson pled no contest to the DUI charges and received three years probation and was court ordered to attend a year long 12-steps program. Gibson also paid around $1,600 in fines, which I’m sure really stretched his budget for that month.
Gibson slung antisemitic language at the arresting officers. Video of that night leaked to the public, leaving a lasting stain on the actor’s career. Gibson apologized for his remarks in 2006, and in 2016, Gibson again addressed the arrest on Variety magazine’s podcast “Playback.”
“Ten years have gone by,” Gibson stated. “I’m feeling good. I’m sober, all of that kind of stuff, and for me it’s a dim thing in the past. But others bring it up, which kind of I find annoying, because I don’t understand why after 10 years it’s any kind of issue. Surely if I was really what they say I was, some kind of hater, there’d be evidence of actions somewhere. There never has been.”
Gibson also said he doesn’t consider himself a hateful person, and that his actions were a result of the copious amount of alcohol he consumed on that night.
“I’ve never discriminated against anyone or done anything that sort of supports that reputation,” the actor/director said. “And for one episode in the back of a police car on eight double tequilas to sort of dictate all the work, life’s work and beliefs and everything else that I have and maintain for my life is really unfair.”
While Gibson himself says he’s not antisemitic, his film Passion of the Christ raised questions over its portrayal of Jewish people. While Gibson defended himself and his beliefs, his father, Hutton Gibson, was famous for his antisemitism, Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories and strict pre-Vatican II Catholicism, which got Mel in trouble with studio executives.