Mel Gibson Chooses Battery Charge Booking Over Beaver Premiere

Actor turns himself in to El Segundo police department for misdemeanor; submits to fingerprinting and mug-shot as comeback film Beaver debuts to ovation at SXSW fest

Unlike certain other stars who shall remain nameless, Mel Gibson isn't drawing out his already length legal case and late last night, just a few days after pleading no contest to misdemeanor battery, he turned himself in to Los Angeles' finest.

Mel, accompanied by his lawyer Blair Berk, quietly made his way to the El Segundo Police Department at around 9:30 p.m., where he submitted to booking for his offense against baby mama Oksana Grigorieva, posing for a mug-shot and getting his fingerprints taken, among other fairly humbling activities.

According to the booking report, the 55-year-old Gibson's height was listed as 5-feet, 10-inches, his weight at 190 pounds, and he clocked in with brown hair and blue eyes.

All told, Gibson was at the station for roughly a half hour before getting released. So how was he?

"He was very pleasant," Sgt. Dean Howard told the Hollywood Reporter. "This is just an old case that the judge wanted him to get fingerprinted for. It isn't anything new. We did it real quick and he was out."

Incidentally, the booking took place on the exact night his supposed comeback film Beaver premiered at the SXSW Film Festival.

"I just have to ask everybody, can you see a film and appreciate the artist for his work?" director, costar and Mel's sole public supporter Jodie Foster told the audience before the film. "And if anything, I think anybody who comes to see the film and understands Mel's extraordinary performance in the movie can't go away untouched by his humanity."

Her little pep talk apparently did the trick, as the movie debuted to rousing applause. Whether that's despite or because of Mel's absence, we'll never know.