Celebrity News April 27, 2011
Jodi Foster on Mel Gibson Quitting Acting
"The Beaver" director Jodi Foster spoke candidly with "Extra" about her good friend, Mel Gibson, who told Deadline.com, "I don't care if I never act again."
Foster responded to the troubled star's confession. "I think it would be a tremendous loss to not have him acting again."
Mel stars in Foster's film "The Beaver" as a traumatized man, Walter Black, who channels his personality into a beaver puppet, in a role some critics are calling the best of his career. "I do think it's a side of Mel that people haven't seen in a long time. It's incredibly raw and very brave of him," Foster said.
She added, "I called him last week and said, 'I hope you know that people are amazed by the performance.' I know he is proud of it -- secretly he will say to me, 'I really like it.'"
Foster explained the association between Mel's personal life and the connection to his character's role. "He understands a man struggling with self-loathing, who wants to change, and in this moment of spiritual crisis, only believes he has the choice of a life sentence or death sentence. In the midst of this, he finds a survival tool that gets him through it and allows him to live again, and I think that is something that understands from a personal place."
The dams open for "The Beaver" to hit theaters on May 6.