Hey, did you hear? Did you hear? It’s American Film Market week and basically you’re going to have to hear that all week. What does it mean? Essentially it’s an annual film industry trade show event in Santa Monica, California where folks converge to buy and sell distribution rights for completed films or to gain financing for projects in various stages of production.
It’s in full swing, which means you’ll see a lot of online folks that have managed to get inside taking photos of posters or giving us first looks at stills from films in the works we haven’t seen yet. Preamble over, below is the sales/teaser poster for “The Beaver” starring persona non grata, Mel Gibson.
A Summit Entertainment pic and directed by Jodie Foster, “The Beaver” focuses on a depressed man (Gibson) who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet, which he uses as a tool for communication.
A 2008 Black List topper, “The Beaver” was originally set to be tackled by the director-actor team of Jay Roach and Steve Carell which, quite frankly, seemed on track to be another run-of-the-mill comedy for Carell to complete during his “The Office” off-season.
But with Foster and Mel Gibson on board, plus Gibson’s new-found notoriety (or reblossomed notoriety), the comedy actually has an actor we’d pay to see portray the, from all accounts, dark and twisted lead. This will only be Gibson’s second role since 2006. The maligned actor also starred in Martin Campbell’s “Edge Of Darkness” earlier this year. The film also stars Anton Yelchin and it-girl of the moment and “Winter’s Bone” lead, Jennifer Lawrence.
When are they actually going to unveil “The Beaver”? Well, with controversy-friendly films like “The Hangover 2” deep-sixing a cameo by the actor on moral grounds, we might have to wait deep into 2011 or later before anyone gets an eye on it. Don’t think this sales poster changes much. [ComingSoon]