Jason Isaacs has insisted Mel Gibson is not his friend

Jason told Vulture: "I was invited by my friend to some charity cricket event for Australians in film. And he said, 'If you come, Mel will.' And I said, 'I don't want to see Mel.' I hadn't seen him since that terrible antisemitic outburst when he got stopped by the police."

But The White Lotus star - who is Jewish - eventually agreed to go to the event, and feels "eternal shame" that when he crossed paths with 69-year-old Mel, he "forgave him instantly" after they had a heartfelt conversation.

He said: "Mel was there, and he called 'Jace' across the room, very friendly. I went, 'Rabbi Gibson, how are we?'

"He came up and he said, 'I was really drunk, man. I was trying to get him to hit me or shoot me or something. I'm having a terrible time.'

"And he proceeded to unload some very personal things.

"He's not my friend but - maybe to my eternal shame - I forgave him instantly because he was there making himself vulnerable."

But Jason admitted he hasn't "forgiven" Mel completely and though they are in occasional contact, he still has "no idea" what he really feels about his former co-star.

He said: "You can't forgive everything from everyone. I'm not saying I forgive Mel. I've seen him once a decade for five minutes.

" We text each other once in a blue moon about something or other.

"I don't know what to do with the fact that he put a character into The Passion of the Christ which is essentially a Jewish demon that doesn't exist in the gospels. I have no idea what to do about him.

"But if he knocked on my door tonight and said, 'Look, my hotel's cancelled. Can I stay?' I'd say, 'Yes', probably."

Following Mel's 2006 arrest, the 69-year-old star shared a lengthy apology.

He said at the time: "There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologise specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

"I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena.

" As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologise directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words."