The Beaver, a dark comedy about a depressed man "who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet," has been in the works for a long time now, with Steve Carell originally attached to play the lead role. At some point, Jim Carrey was rumored to be taking over the role, but now it's official: neither of these men will star in The Beaver — Mel Gibson will play the lead instead.

Jodie Foster will direct Gibson in the comedy, and she may also play the man's wife. Foster is no stranger to the director's chair, having already helmed Little Man Tate and Home For the Holidays.

The script, written by Kyle Killen, "has generated enormous interest in development circles, drawing comparisons to Being John Malkovich and Lars and the Real Girl." I'm actually looking forward to seeing what Gibson does with this role. I'm not a huge Mel Gibson fan, but I do like it when he plays the more offbeat characters, like the unstable Jerry Fletcher in Conspiracy Theory. Pairing him up with Jodie Foster as director is also pretty intriguing.