Jodie Foster Defends Mel Gibson, 'The Beaver'

We know the movie's not for everybody," Jodie Foster said over breakfast not long ago, referring to her third directorial feature, "The Beaver."

The comedy-drama stars Mel Gibson as Walter Black, a suburban family man whose paralyzing depression leads to a personality split: A blunt-talking, Cockney-accented beaver puppet becomes his alter ego and coping mechanism, much to the amusement and consternation of his family and co-workers — and eventually to his own horror.

"The film has a strange tone to it," said Foster, who co-stars as Walter's befuddled wife. "It's challenging for an audience because it starts out on a light note and has a very high-concept tone in some ways, and little by little it sort of becomes darker fairly quickly."

The unusual premise is certainly one marketing challenge (the film's initial concept leaned more heavily on the comedy, with Steve Carell attached at one point). And there is, obviously, the dilemma of Gibson himself, who has become persona non grata to audiences turned off by his well-publicized temper and a string of bad acts.

Jodie Foster talks Mel Gibson and ‘The Beaver’

Jodie Foster’s allegiance to friend and colleague Mel Gibson has been well-documented. But as the promotional efforts for their movie, “The Beaver,” continue to ramp up ahead of its May 6 release, it’s something that she will undoubtedly be reiterating, as she did in a recent video interview with me.
I had the opportunity to talk first-hand with Foster about Gibson and her reasons for casting him in “The Beaver,” a film that Foster both directed and co-stars in as Gibson’s wife.
In the first portion of a multi-part video interview, the actress explains what made her immediately think of her “Maverick” co-star for the role of a deeply depressed man who turns to a beaver puppet for solace.
“It’s a film about a man who’s struggling,” she says. “And I think that he is someone who has struggled in his life with many things, and who’s really interested in coming to terms with that.”

After the jump, watch another clip of Foster discussing her feelings about the recent 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan — a news story that she became forever intwined with due to John Hinckley, Jr.’s well-publicized interest in her — and why she’ll never set up a Twitter account.
The rest of my interview with Foster will be posted here in Celebritology in the coming days.

Jodie Foster talks John Hinckley and social media.