Mel Gibson to star in 'Beaver'

Jodie Foster to co-star, direct film

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."