Gibson on Beaver: 'I Faked It'

Jodie Foster directs film about depressed man and his puppet

(NEWSER) - Jodie Foster directs The Beaver, the story of a seriously depressed man who starts speaking by way of a beaver hand-puppet. The film’s not great, but Mel Gibson is at the top of his game:

• "There are all kinds of problems with The Beaver. Ironically, Mel Gibson isn't one of them,” writes Betsey Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times . It’s “an emotional runaway of a film that carries neither the insight nor the uplift to make the weight of its dark journey worth it.”

'People have struggles in life,' director says

(NEWSER) - Beaver director Jodie Foster says she has no regrets about casting her old friend Mel Gibson as her co-star, despite the star's headline-grabbing personal life. Foster says she knows moviegoers might be wary of Gibson—who pleaded guilty to domestic abuse last week—but she's willing to defend him. "People have struggles in life," she tells the Los Angeles Times . "Most of us don't have ours expressed on the Internet. I actually don't feel his struggles are that unusual. People say nasty things to cops when they're drunk." More»

Puppet in altered YouTube trailers screams in his own Oksana rants

(NEWSER) - Mel Gibson seemed to be begging for it, and now it's come: his Beaver fallout begins. The actor's bid to resurrect his career playing a depressed dad who cures himself by talking to his beaver hand puppet has taken a hilarious turn on YouTube. Altered trailers for Gibson's new film no longer feature a kindly beaver puppet who expresses concern in a British accent. Now the animal screams at Mel's character in Gibson's own deranged voice spliced in from angry phone calls to ex-lover Oksana Grigorieva. More»

'Crazy' film may be an odd choice just now

(NEWSER) - Mel Gibson hopes to shore up his fading career with his latest role as a depressed dad who cures himself by talking to a beaver puppet that lives on his own hand. Sounds pretty pathetic, but word is that the movie—directed by Gibson friend and fellow actor Jodie Foster—is quite good ... and the preview has finally hit US televisions (watch it in gallery). But for Mel, who reportedly suffers from alcoholism and bipolar syndrome, playing a crazy dad might not be the right career choice just now as he's battling for custody of his baby daughter with Oksana Grigorieva, notes Jon Swaine in the Telegraph . More»

Longtime friend is still on Gibson's side

(NEWSER) - Everybody hates Mel Gibson … except Jodie Foster . The actress talked to More magazine about her friend Mel before he got himself embroiled in this Oksana Grigorieva drama, recalling that “the second I met him,” while filming Maverick together in 1994, “I said, 'I will love this man for the rest of my life.’” Then, after he found himself splashed all over the tabloids, she reaffirmed her commitment to him. More»