So Mel Gibson, Michael Jackson and the Director of Miss Cast Away All Walk Into a Meeting...

We have to (slightly) hand it to director Bryan Michael Stoller: While other associates of Michael Jackson were rushing to cash in on their relationship with the singer after his death, it took Stoller weeks! Now, though, the director of Jackson's final cinematic effort, Miss Cast Away (which, you may remember, starred Jackson opposite Joe Millionaire and Pat Morita) is ready to sell out, and he's got a very unlikely story to pitch.

According to Stoller, Jackson had committed to co-direct the foster kid drama They Cage the Animals at Night -- an assertion disputed by the Jackson camp, which accuses Stoller of exaggerating Jackson's level of involvement. Still, Stoller has footage of Jackson talking about the project, and it can be yours if the right deal is struck! Plus, he has this story to tell:

They Cage the Animals also was affected by the molestation charges, Stoller said. In 2003 the producer arranged a three-hour meeting in a Universal City hotel between Jackson and Mel Gibson, who besides being an actor is a producer and partner in Icon Prods. "They got along great," Stoller said. "It was kind of funny. Mel was a little nervous. He was hugging a pillow the whole time, kind of playing with it. Michael was kind of shy."

Icon signed a deal to develop the project with a budget of $12 million-$20 million, according to Stoller, who was paid by Icon to write the screenplay. A couple of months later, when Jackson was indicted in Santa Barbara, Calif., Icon dropped the project, and Gibson stopped returning Stoller's phone calls. [...]

Stoller said Icon still owns the screenplay, but an Icon representative rebutted that, saying the company has had no involvement or ownership for 10 years. Gibson declined comment for this report.

Two other fun facts about Stoller: He wrote a book called Filmmaking for Dummies, and he has his fingers crossed that this new publicity will lead to a domestic rerelease of Miss Cast Away. So do we!

· Michael Jackson aimed to direct movie about foster children [Reuters]