About (Late) Last Night: David Letterman grills Jodie Foster about Mel Gibson [Video]

 

Unlike his rival over at NBC, David Letterman is never one to shy away from a difficult or potentially awkward question. So when Jodie Foster stopped by the "Late Show" on Thursday night to promote her new movie, "The Beaver," which costars persona non grata Mel Gibson, it seemed inevitable that the embattled actor's personal troubles would come up.

Sure enough, Letterman wasted no time broaching the subject. "Your costar in the film is Mel Gibson," he said. "Here's a guy who seems troubled. He's had some troubles. And the troubles were happening while you were filming the movie."

Foster corrected him, claiming that Gibson's troubles arose "mostly after we wrapped."

"Did he have any inkling that he might have some problems ahead of him?" Letterman asked.

"I don't think so. No, no, no ... there was no inkling," she responded, in a way that suggested she didn't really want to belabor the topic.

But Letterman was insistent. "Can you defend what he's ..., " he asked, his sentence trailing off.

Foster's answer? A definitive, "No."

Now, it's quite possible that Foster has simply grown tired of defending Gibson and just wanted to talk about his performance -- which she praised as "wonderful" -- rather than his messy personal life. But Foster's slightly more critical tone did seem like a break from the unconditional love she's expressed in the past.

What do you think?

-- Meredith Blake

twitter.com/MeredithBlake

 

 

Comments

[Rose Chu]

All the snarky Mel Gibson bashing "jumped the shark" some time ago. To be honest, the amount of effort that has gone into hypocritically demonizing Mel in the media is laughable.

[Clancy]

There is already some preliminary Oscar buzz percolating related to Mel's performance in "The Beaver." Let's hope he doesn't get snubbed by the Academy like Mickey Rourke did with "The Wrestler." The politics of personal destruction in Hollywood is relentless it seems...

[w1n5t0n]

"arised" is the past tense of "arise"? Wow.

[em]

There has been a concerted effort to discredit Mel Gibson since about 2003 and it has been relentless. When you Google the name you get his rant from 2006, which was all of two sentences ( which were illegally leaked - but never mind about that) and the "illegally" recorded private telephone fight with his ex-girlfriend at the height of their break-up! The man apologised for his DUI rant, twice, but that was not considered to be enough. Anyone who dares to support him (because they are a long-term friend and actually know the man) are hounded with questions and being asked over and over again, why they support him. Even though Jodie said repeatedly that she does not condone his behaviour and if he had done anything wrong he needs to go to jail.

I agree with Rose Chu, all the snarky Mel Gibson bashing, the amount of effort that has gone into demonizing Mel in the media is laughable - Someone definitely has a dog in this fight and the telling thing is, they are stone-cold sober and not at the height of a breakdown.

It feels like a feeding frenzy and no-one stops to listen, someone definitely has a dog in this fight, because this is being repeated over and over ad infinitum and then they are surprised when Jodie is a little short when she answers: "NO", when asked yet again if she defended Mel's behaviour.

[em]

This is an excerpt from another interview Jodie did on the Beaver and supporting Mel Gibson (not defending his behaviour at the height of his breakdown / breakup with ex girlfriend):

In the end, Foster reflects on her decision to continue to support Gibson when many others have not: "As far as walking away from someone who's struggling, I mean, if you love somebody, and you know them, and they have proven themselves as a friend over and over again in your life, and they're somebody who's really a member of your family, when someone's struggling, you don't walk away from them. You stand by them. I'm not interested in running away from him. The Mel Gibson that I know, that I've experienced, and that I know intimately — and I think I can probably say you don't know — is an extraordinary man. And no one can take that away."

[em]

This is an excerpt from another interview Jodie did on the Beaver and supporting Mel Gibson (not defending his behaviour at the height of his breakdown / breakup with ex-girlfriend):

In the end, Foster reflects on her decision to continue to support Gibson when many others have not: "As far as walking away from someone who's struggling, I mean, if you love somebody, and you know them, and they have proven themselves as a friend over and over again in your life, and they're somebody who's really a member of your family, when someone's struggling, you don't walk away from them. You stand by them. I'm not interested in running away from him. The Mel Gibson that I know, that I've experienced, and that I know intimately — and I think I can probably say you don't know — is an extraordinary man. And no one can take that away."

[azlee]

Jodie has already said that she loves him and though she doesn't agree with the vocabulary and stuff that was done, she does maintain he is a wonderful man. Why turn that one "no" into that she is turning on him? She is not. There were more then what we see behind those recordings and do any one of us agree with being called names? of course not. I still say it isn't the worse sin in the world and the media trying to make it out like Jodie is saying something she isn't is cruel and inhumane at this point of their project.

not buying it though, not that she turned on him. Go Jodie!