Last night, Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster’s film The Beaver premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. Jodie was there. Mel was not. I read that Mel wasn’t down there early this morning, and I thought it was just an attempt by the studio releasing The Beaver (ugh, “releasing the beaver”) to avoid any additional controversy. Nope. Mel wasn’t at the premiere because he was turning himself into the authorities, like he had been ordered. Last week, he pled “no contest” to battery, and had been sentenced to 16 hours of community service, 52 weeks of counseling, and three years of what TMZ calls “informal probation” – I think they made that up? Is “informal probation” a real thing? Isn’t it just “probation or GTFO”? Anyway, Mel turned himself into the El Segundo Police Department, and he was fingerprinted and photographed once again. If you’d like to see his latest booking photo, go here. TMZ calls it “angry”. I still think he looks drugged, though. Somebody prescribed Mel some drugs to help even out his hysterical mood swings. Let’s see, what else? He weighs 190 pounds, and he’s five foot 10 inches.

Here’s a question – do you think Mel was trying to passively aggressively screw with Jodie Foster? The timing is too weird – Jodie premieres The Beaver on the same night that Mel turns himself in? Or is this all some kind of grand publicity campaign that I’m just not understanding? Even if Mel’s timing is sketchy, though, I doubt Jodie will mind. After all, she loves and adores his sensitive soul.

Photos courtesy of WENN.