There's been more fuel added to fire to heat up the controversy over Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" -- his father has reportedly told a radio talk show that he believes the Holocaust was mostly "fiction."

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST Movie Review Is Film Too Graphic? Jim Caviezel Interview, Movie Clips, Interview Clips, Slideshow Caviezel Interview (HTML Version)

Hutton Gibson's recorded interview on the Talkline Radio Network is to air next Monday, two days before the release of his son's film. Some Jewish leaders fear could fuel anti-Semitism. Conservative Christians have praised it.

According to a transcript of the show "Speak Your Piece," Hutton Gibson disputes the claim that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Instead, he claimed, "They simply got up and left."

He said Jews were all over the Bronx and Brooklyn and Sydney and Los Angeles.

Starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ, "The Passion of the Christ" graphically portrays the last 12 hours of Christ's life as depicted in the New Testament. Gibson -- who co-wrote and directed the film -- financed the project with his a reported $25 million of his own money.

Zev Brenner, the owner of Talkline, which he calls a Jewish network, has been calling for a boycott of all of Mel Gibson's movies.

Hutton Gibson has been unavailable for comment.

Mel Gibson has largely remained silent when asked about his father in interviews. He told ABC's Diane Sawyer Monday, "Gotta leave it alone, Diane," when the interviewer probed him about Hutton Gibson's reported anti-Semitism.

Mel Gibson did tell Sawyer, however, his viewpoints about the Holocaust.

"Do I believe that there were concentration camps where defenseless and innocent Jews died cruelly under the Nazi regime? Of course I do, absolutely," Mel Gibson told Sawyer. "It was an atrocity of monumental proportions."

"And you believe there were millions -- 6 million?" Sawyer asked, to which Mel Gibson responded, "Sure."

Mel Gibson told Sawyer that his father was approached by a reporter from the New York Times when the film was in production to prod him about his views of the Holocaust. Sawyer asked, "Do you think people wondered if your father's views were your views on this?"

"Their whole agenda here -- my detractors -- is to drive a wedge between me and my father -- and it's not going to happen," Mel Gibson told Sawyer. "I love him, he's my father."

"And you will not speak publicly about him?" Sawyer asked.

"I am tight with him. He's my father," Mel Gibson responded. "Gotta leave it alone, Diane. Gotta leave it alone."

'Passion' Expands To More Screens

"The Passion of the Christ" was originally going to be on 2,000 screens when it opens on Wednesday. Now, Variety it'll be on 2,800 -- a huge amount for an independent film.

The increase puts it in the same range as "Master and Commander" and "The Last Samurai." Both of those opened on nearly 3,000 screens.

All the major studios rejected picking up the controversial biblical epic before New York-based independent Newmarket Films signed on with Gibson's Icon Productions to distribute the film.

Churches across the country have reportedly booked entire theaters -- if not megaplexes -- in the first few days of the film's release to ensure their congregations can see the film together.

Southern Reverend Reacts To Film

A Southern Baptist leader said he was deeply moved during a preview showing of "The Passion of the Christ" at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.

On the final night of the convention in Charlotte, N.C., the Rev. Adrian Rogers said the film made him wonder, "Are the things you are living for worth Jesus dying for?"

Rogers said he wanted to stand up and yell, "That is enough! Stop!" as he watched the graphic depiction of Jesus being beaten, whipped and crucified.

He said that while the film may draw unbelievers to Christ, its greatest impact may be to take Christians' focus off of themselves and onto the enormity of Jesus' sacrifice for them.

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• February 19, 2003: ADL Asks Vatican For Help In 'Passion' Debate