Jodie Foster has a soft spot for her Beaver co-star Mel Gibson. She told The Hollywood Reporter magazine: “God, I love that man…The performance he gave in this movie, I will always be grateful for. He brought a lifetime of pain to the character that we’ve been talking about for years, that I knew was part of his psyche and who he is. It’s part of him that is beautiful and that I want people to know, too.”
Foster and Gibson have known each other and been very close friends since 1994 when they met on the set of
Maverick. Lucky for Gibson, Foster has remained by his side when the whole world seems to have turned its back. “He’s so incredibly loving and sensitive, he really is. He is the most loved actor I have ever worked with on a movie. And he’s not saintly, and he’s got a big mouth, and he’ll do gross things your nephew would do. But I knew the minute I met him that I would love him the rest of my life.”
Gibson had confided in Foster about his relationship with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva before the world found out every detail and she was right there by his side when the first set of the now infamous voice mails were publicly released. The two were on the set of The Beaver for some re-shoots. Foster recalls: “It was a bad situation. His assistant called me: ‘Come to the trailer!’ And I went to his trailer, and he was a mess. Then he came on set, and he didn’t have any makeup on, anything. He came in and sat down on the chair and said, ‘OK, roll it,’ and did two takes that were just beautiful. Then he got on the plane and left.”
And the rest, as we all know too painfully, is history…
You can read the rest of the interview in the newest issue of The Hollywood Reporter on sale in NYC and LA on Thursday.
