Go Into the Light

Since her beginnings as a child actor, we have watched Jodie Foster mature onscreen. With two Oscars for Best Actress already in the bag, Foster is now before us with her third directorial effort, The Beaver, which had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March and opens nationally on Friday. The Beaver is based on a coveted screenplay by Austin resident Kyle Killen. The script was legendary within the industry for its complexity of tone that married an absurd comic premise to a dark psychological drama. The film tells the story of a clinically depressed man who starts communicating exclusively through a hand puppet he wears on his arm at all times. Foster's longtime friend Mel Gibson stars as the troubled protagonist Walter Black, and the casting adds another level of complication to The Beaver's launch, not least of which is the delayed release of the film caused by Gibson's now-infamous tapes, in which he excoriates his ex-girlfriend, which came to light just as The Beaver wrapped production. The Chronicle spoke with Foster about the film during her visit to Austin for SXSW.

Austin Chronicle: Apart from the timing of a planned spring release, why choose to debut The Beaver in Austin at South by Southwest?

Jodie Foster: It's just a different group of people who are probably more open to seeing a film that goes about it all in a very different way. This film is not for everybody; it has an odd tone to it, and you have to be able to walk in and embrace that fact. It's a high-concept idea that slowly becomes more and more emotional and becomes really quite dramatic in the end. Sometimes that's hard for American audiences.

AC: On a personal level, what is it about this dark comic drama about mental illness that drew you to it?

JF: So many things. A lot of my films talk about a spiritual crisis. My first movie is about a 7-year-old with a spiritual crisis. There is this psychological place where you're forced into these two untenable forks. Do I take this one? It's the death sentence, and this one's the life sentence. And do I have to choose between a death sentence and a life sentence? Getting through this crisis allows you to evolve into a new place where you have to say goodbye to the past, embrace a different future, and become a different person. A lot of movies find themselves in that place, and this one specifically, I feel like I've lived. I am not a 50-year-old man having a midlife crisis, I suppose. I've never put a puppet on my hand, but I do feel like this is something that I've gone through in my life.

AC: Since you could foresee that perfecting this film's tone was going to be a difficult process, why choose Mel Gibson for the lead, with all the big shadows that hang over his head?

JF: Mel had some shadows hanging over his head [when we shot in 2009] but not quite as much as he has now [after his girlfriend troubles became public]. But he's been a miraculous actor, and he's the right man for this role. He's somebody that I know very well so I know exactly what it is to work with him, and I know what he brings to the screen. I'm not just saying this: I think he is the most beloved actor I've ever worked with. I don't know any other actor who is unanimously as loved as Mel is by the people [who] work with him. I didn't have any misgivings at all about bringing him on the film. [My trust is] based on our relationship over the years and the things that we talk about – the long conversations that I have with him and the kind of sensitivity that I know that he has and the life experience that he has. I knew that he would understand how to live in both worlds: the lightness and the darkness of the film. I'm just so proud of his performance I can't even take credit for it.

AC: Did you ever consider making the puppet something other than a beaver, given the animal's inescapable overtones?

JF: Never did. I sort of embraced all the jabber about it; I thought it was pretty funny, actually. Like, fine, talk about the movie. What do I care? I felt like the beaver was the right animal: He builds things out of wood, and he's this industrious character that creates dams. I felt like, yeah, it was the right one.

AC: Is your plan to try to do more directing at this point?

JF: I think so, yeah; that's what I'd like to do. I'd like to direct more now and act a little bit less. It's not like I'm ever gonna stop acting. I mean I've been doing it for 45 years; I can't imagine stopping, but eventually I think it'll take a back seat to the directing. ... Personal films though, they're hard to get off the ground. I've had a lot of trouble getting my films off the ground. That's why it's taken so long. ... If it's a buddy/cop film, no problem.