It’s not exactly the best time for Mel to begin promoting his new film, what with all those pesky rumours about his hatred of women, Jews, policemen, minorities, sunlight etc. But still is there anything a picture of him and a cuddly beaver can’t cure?

Though distribution has halted on Mel’s new film The Beaver until his reputation is… how can we put this… less totally destroyed, that hasn’t stopped a teaser poster being leaked onto the interweb.

The story of The Beaver follows Walter Black, a man who just can’t seem to deal with the pressure in his life. Severely depressed, Walter seeks treatment and is offered a rather unorthodox idea: he can use a beaver hand puppet to express his feelings, protecting himself from anything bad that comes his way. Is it just us, or is this starting to sound like a good idea for Mel generally? Take a look at the poster below, and perhaps all will be forgiven…

the beaver poster