Foster praises Gibson's performance

AUSTIN, Texas, March 16 (UPI) -- Actress-director Jodie Foster asked the audience at a Texas screening of her film "The Beaver" to try to appreciate the humanity in Mel Gibson's performance.

The movie was shown Wednesday night at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin.

Gibson became a polarizing figure in Hollywood after making anti-Semitic remarks to a police officer during a July 2006 drunken driving arrest. Audio of Gibson allegedly uttering racial slurs during a heated argument with his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, hit the Internet last summer, further tarnishing Gibson's reputation.

He has since pleaded no contest to battery in the altercation with Grigorieva, the mother of his toddler daughter. Gibson was sentenced to three years probation, a 12-month domestic violence counseling program and community service.

Throughout his various troubles, his longtime friend Foster has repeatedly defended him. She did so again at Wednesday night's screening of "The Beaver."

"I just have to ask everybody, can you see a film and appreciate the artist for his work?" The Hollywood Reporter quoted Foster as saying before the screening. "And if anything, I think anybody who comes to see the film and understands Mel's extraordinary performance in the movie can't go away untouched by his humanity."

The entertainment industry trade newspaper said Foster, co-star Anton Yelchin and screenwriter Kyle Killen attended the screening, while Gibson missed the event.

"If there's a message to the movie," Foster said, "it's that you don't have to be alone. The truth is that the great remedy for that is connection."

In the film, Gibson plays a troubled man who communicates through a beaver hand puppet.