Jodie Foster has directed three movies in 20 years, which is to say she’s choosy. And boy, is her latest project, The Beaver, which opens Friday, an…interesting addition to her oeuvre. First, there’s the giggle-inducing title. (Come on, The Beaver? Really?) Then there’s the fact that it stars Mel Gibson in his first on-screen role since he played the part of a ranting, racist misogynist in real life last summer. And then there’s the film’s premise: Gibson stars as Walter Black, a clinically depressed CEO of a toy company who decides to let a beaver hand puppet do all of his talking for him. It’s dark stuff, but at times Foster (who also stars as Walter’s wife, Meredith) manages to play Walter’s dual personality for laughs.

The two-time Oscar winner was in Seattle in April to promote the film, so in keeping with The Beaver’s juxtaposition of humor and tragedy, we asked one serious question and one dumb one.

The Beaver covers some challenging subject matter. What drew you to the story to begin with?

A ton of things. I make movies about people in a spiritual crisis and how they get through it, how they get through an untenable crisis. Do they run in fear, or do they face it head-on? I’m sure that’s a part of why I make movies in the first place—to look at and ruminate on crises on my own and try to figure out how to get through them. And I like family movies. I like the family dynamic and exploring why people are who they are and how they interact.

You had to know that people would comment on the title. What’s the best joke that you’ve heard?

They’re all so fabulously rude. They’re all good. I love it. My friend said to me, “You’re going to change the title, aren’t you?” And I was like, “Absolutely not.” I kind of like looking at people’s faces when they say it for the first time. The film’s a little irreverent, and I think it’s good that there’s a little irreverence in the title.

The Beaver is in theaters May 6.

UPDATED. We’ll have more with Jodie Foster in our June issue of Seattle Met.