Rants and all, Foster stands behind Gibson

Despite Mel Gibson's highly public rants against his former girlfriend and a drunken, anti-Semitic rage against a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, Jodie Foster has nothing but praise for her fellow actor-director, a close friend since the two co-starred in 1994's "Maverick."

"He's so incredibly loving and sensitive, he really is," she told The Hollywood Reporter in a 3,500-word profile posted online yesterday. "He is the most loved actor I have ever worked with on a movie," she said. "And he's not saintly, and he's got a big mouth, and he'll do gross things your nephew would do. But I knew the minute I met him that I would love him the rest of my life."

Foster directed and co-stars with Gibson in the family drama "The Beaver," about a toy company chief executive who communicates with his wife (Foster) and sons through a therapeutic hand puppet of said animal. The movie is scheduled for limited release May 6 and wide release May 20.

"I know him in a very complex way," Foster allowed. "He's a real person; he's not a cardboard cutout. I know that he has troubles, and when you love somebody you don't just walk away from them when they are struggling."

Gibson himself, in a Sunday e-mail to the trade magazine, confirmed he would help with the movie's publicity campaign. Foster said he meant it, too. "He was like, 'I'll be chained to a car and dragged through gravel for you!' And I'm like, 'That's OK!' "