Mel Gibson to Rock ‘The Beaver’

Published by Jeff Leins on: July 11th, 2009

Mel Gibson has agreed to star in The Beaver, a comedy about a man and his puppet.  Jodie Foster will co-star and direct, finally reuniting the team from 1994’s Maverick.  I don’t know about you,  but I’ve been sending one letter a week to executives demanding another Gibson-Foster movie.  I usually included “P.S. Please make it a movie with a sexually suggestive title.”

Gibson recently came out of acting retirement after a seven year hiatus to direct his own films amidst public controversy.  This would mark Foster’s third outing as a director, but her first time behind the camera in over a decade.

The story focuses on a depressed man who finds comfort in interacting with his beaver puppet.  Foster will play Gibson’s wife.  Its script by newcomer Kyle Killen topped 2008’s “Black List,” a compilation of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.  Many favorable script reviews have cited comparisons to Being John Malkovich and Lars and the Real Girl, which both received Oscar nominations for writing.  Steve Carell was originally attached, but his TV schedule for “The Office” conflicted and later Jim Carrey emerged as the leading candidate.