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ACTOR and director Jodie Foster has defended casting Mel Gibson in the leading role for her new movie The Beaver, saying she had 'no regrets' about casting him, despite his personal troubles that delayed the film's release.
"Obviously all sorts of stuff happened after the film was finished," she said following the movie's premiere at Austin's South by Southwest arts festival last week. "I certainly have no regrets about him being in the film and his performance."
The US debut of Foster's drama was delayed for months and had been expected to compete for awards during Hollywood's Oscar season.
The postponement came after a series of audiotapes were posted on celebrity website Radaronline.com of a man, widely believed to be Gibson, making a racial slur and sexist comments to his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
Neither Gibson nor his representatives have confirmed he made the comments but they have not denied it either. Last week he pleaded no contest to a charge of domestic abuse linked to his bitter breakup with Grigorieva.
Throughout his recent personal troubles, Foster has defended her long-time friend and at the movie's premiere, she told the audience she felt 'incredibly grateful' for Gibson's performance and would not change anything about the movie.
The Beaver tells the story of deeply-depressed Walter Black (Gibson), his wife (Foster) and teenage son (Anton Yelchin) who do not understand the pain he is in.
One day he finds a discarded beaver puppet and, when he slips it onto his hand, he finds that he is able to communicate more easily in the voice of the animal which, strangely, has a London cockney accent.
The Beaver opens in May.
