Jodie Foster Loves Mel Gibson

Jodie Foster is still standing behind her close friend Mel Gibson as she promotes the forthcoming release of the film she directed him in, The Beaver.

Foster tells The Hollywood Reporter she knew about some of the problems Gibson was having before they exploded in the tabloids and says, despite all of his problems, the two will be friends for life.

"I knew the minute I met him, I would love him forever," Foster says. "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."

Foster says she knows the film has an uphill battle ahead of it, but she's not worried because she never set out to make a crowd-pleaser.

"This is not a mainstream movie," she says. "It does have mainstream actors, but that's not this film. I don't need to make those kinds of movies because my career as a director is a personal spiritual path. I don't need to succeed in that way in order to have an identity. I already have one."