Mel Gibson’s next project is going to be a doozy.
Variety reported last week:
Mel Gibson will star in “The Beaver” for director Jodie Foster.
The script, written by Kyle Killen, topped the Blacklist in December.
Gibson will play a depressed man who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet. On top of helming, Foster will play the role of the man’s wife.
Foster boarded the project and brought it to Gibson, with whom she co-starred in 1994’s “Maverick.”
Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Keith Redmon will produce the film. Producers are pushing for a September start date in New York.
Financing for the $18 million-$19 million pic has yet to be finalized. A studio could pick up the project or it could go the indie route, as Golin did with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Babel.”
Project had several star and director combos circling — including Steve Carell and Jay Roach — over the past several months.
Pic brings Foster back to feature directing for the third time, after 1991’s “Little Man Tate” and 1995’s “Home for the Holidays.”
Variety really doesn’t do the premise of this film any justice. What it’s actually about is a depressed man who finds a hand puppet. When he puts it on, the puppet, a beaver, begins to speak to him with a life of it’s own, going on to give him advice about his career and family. “The Beaver” is one of those scripts that scriptshadow reviewed a while back, and this is what he had to say about it:
The Beaver is a pretty solid little script. It’s a thinly veiled (albeit dark) version of “Guy drinks magical potion. Life changes for the better.” What separates it from the rest of these types of films is that it’s not a comedy. Well, it is, but not really. It’s actually a serious look at how depression ruins families and how distraction and denial may work as temporary lifeboats from the disease, but sooner or later, you’re going to have to deal with the real issues.
What I’m really curious about is why on earth Mel Gibson, considering all of his recent negative media attention, is playing a non-comedic role about a man who talks to a puppet on his hand. It sounds to me like easy fodder for those who just went to continue labeling Gibson as crazy. I haven’t read more then twenty pages of the script yet, but so far it still fits the description. The link is still up and you can actually download it here. Check it out, let me know what you think!
