Emily Roz

Death By Mel in Time Out New York

Time Out New York New York ran this piece on Death By Mel:

Die another Day
Mad Mel’s violent tendencies are cataloged for gallerygoers.

As if Mel Gibson didn’t have enough to worry about, here’s another stain on his record: The overgrown altar boy has killed 144 people—on film, at least. Artist Emily Roz knows this because she witnessed them all while compiling images for Death by Mel, an ongoing display of Gibson’s homicidal screen shots at Williamsburg’s Front Room gallery. To assemble this chronologically-ordered exhibit, Roz was obligated to view the vast bulk of Gibson’s oeuvre, from 1977’s Summer City to 2004’s The Passion of the Christ (it’s director Gibson who hammers the stakes into Jesus’ hand). Here are a few facts that probably didn’t show up on the LAPD’s arrest report.—Erin Clements

Number of films Roz watched: 31
Cost of rentals and film: $528
Movie with highest body count: Braveheart (33)
People Mel kills by gunshot: 74
People Mel kills by knife or sword: 26
People Mel kills by head twist: 2
People Mel kills by ax: 2
People Mel kills by spike: 1
People Mel kills by poison: 1
People Mel kills with a piranha: 1
People Mel kills in What Women Want: 0
Times Roz was teased by local video clerks: 8
Times Bird on a Wire was already checked out at store: 3
Times viewers questioned the chronology of the exhibit: 4
Times Roz’s four-year-old son questioned value of project: 144
Months Roz’s husband banned her from using Netflix after project’s completion: 12

Death by Mel can be viewed at the Front Room (frontroom.org), 147 Roebling St in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Friday 18–Sunday 20.

Time Out New York / Issue 568 : Aug 17–23, 2006