Mel Gibson Leaves It To 'Beaver,' Elvis Mitchell In Trouble With The IRS

Can there be a better lead item today than a shot of Mel Gibson running with a stuffed Beaver doll in his hands on the set of Jodie Foster’s upcoming directorial effort, “The Beaver,” which stars Gibson, herself and Anton Yelchin (“Terminator Salvation”)?The logline of the film, in case you’ve somehow forgotten, is about a guy (Gibson obviously) that walks around with a puppet of a beaver on his hand and treats it like a living creature. Uhh, yeah, pretty much and who also seemingly goes for jogs with it too. Foster plays the wife and Yelchin plays the son in what is supposed to be a black comedy set for release sometime in 2010. The script was featured in last year’s “The Black List,” which is a list compiled of Hollywood executives of their favorite and not necessarily best, scripts. [CelebGossip via MovieLine]

Mitch Rouse and Christopher Nelson have sold their action horror spec script “Supermax,” to Columbia. It takes inside a maximum security prison, but should not be mistaken for the other maximum-security-prison-action property from Warners’ called “Super Max,” which is based on D.C. Comics hero Green Arrow and a story that chronicles his stay in prison, written by one of “The Dark Knight” scribes David Goyer, but is still evidently in development. [THR]

AICN has a spoilerish review of Noah Baumbach’s “Greenberg,” or Untitled as it was last referred to. The film, as you’ll recall stars Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, and centers on a New Yorker (Stiller) who moves to L.A. to house-sit for his brother and figure out his life and ends up having a relationship with his brother’s assistant (Gerwig). Rhys Ifans, Brie Larson and Juno Temple also star, but the big takeaway is the review is very positive and that Baumbach’s comedy is still as acidic and black as ever. Aspect ratio nerds can note that Baumbach’s cinematographer Harris Savides has evidently shot the film in a wide anamorphic scope.

This slipped under our radar (or we didn’t really care at the time), but it appears “Avatar” isn’t the only James Cameron 3D film we can expect to come down the pike. Cameron’s production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, have recently finished up 3D testing on two of the director’s biggest films — “Titanic” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” according to THR. While there are no firm commitments that these will grace theater screens anytime soon, we can guess that any further development is hinging on “Avatar.” Anything short of a colossal take at the box-office for Cameron’s forthcoming game-changer will probably be considered a disappointment so don’t count on seeing Leo screaming “I’m king of the world” in your face anytime soon.

Well, this is kind of weird. Page Six is reporting that former NY Times film critic, and current host of “Under The Influence” on Turner Classic Movies, Elvis Mitchell, is apparently being chased by the IRS who claim he owes $500,000 in back taxes. Mitchell’s lack of faith in conventional banking nearly landed him hot water in 2008 when he was stopped at the Canadian border on his way to TIFF with $12,000 in cash and Cuban cigars (he had declared only $80). While it’s sort of amazing Mitchell rolls like the film critic equivalent of Jay-Z, he might want to open a checking account and head down to the local H&R Block. “Let’s face it. Mitchell likes to live large,” Anne Thompson said, noting how he likes to jet off with Quentin Tarantino whenever given the chance. She also notes that New York Magazine has described him as “flamboyant,” which might be New York mag code for being a baller who likes to throw down Benjamins whenever afforded the opportunity. People might scoff at Mitchell, but as far as film critics go, this is a pretty bad-ass move. Roger Ebert never did it as buckwild in his day.