Los Angeles  - Actress Jodie Foster is to step behind the camera to direct Mel Gibson in a movie called Beaver, according to trade paper Variety.

Gibson will star as a crazy, depressed man who wears a beaver puppet on his hand and thinks it's a real animal. Foster also will star as Gibson's wife.

The role represents Gibson's second acting stint since 2003. He is due to appear in the conspiracy theory Edge of Darkness next year. Foster has previously directed two movies: the 1991 film Little Man Tate and the family drama Home for the Holidays in 1995. (dpa)