GIBSON’S DELAYED FILM TO PREMIERE IN AUSTIN

Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival took on a higher profile on Thursday with the announcement that it will screen for the first time Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, starring Mel Gibson. While Foster has reportedly confirmed that she’ll attend the festival, which opens on March 11, the embattled Gibson’s plans are not known. While the film’s release had been postponed because of Gibson’s running legal battle with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, the studio now plans a slow rollout beginning March 23. In its report about the festival’s plans, Britain’s Guardian newspaper commented today (Friday): “The softly, softly approach seems sensible for a movie so tightly focused on a figure who has rarely been out of the media over the past year, and rarely to positive effect.” The festival also plans to showcase a documentary filmed during Conan O’Brien’s Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour. No word on whether O’Brien will make an appearance.