The Beaver “is not a mainstream movie,” director-costar Jodie Foster has told The Hollywood Reporter‘s Stephen Galloway. “It does have mainstream actors, but that’s not this film.” One guesses/presumes she’s partly alluding to a third-act moment in which Mel Gibson‘s character forges a kind of bond with James Franco‘s in 127 Hours.

Foster has everyone’s admiration for standing by Gibson. “I know that he’s got troubles,” she says, “and he’s not saintly and [has] a big mouth, and he’ll do gross things your nephew would do. [But] when you love somebody you don’t just walk away from them when they’re struggling.”

“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. I can’t ever regret that.”