 Jodie Foster escapes to Nim's Island |
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 Jodie Foster — she of the Ivy League pedigree, the 42-year-long (and counting!) career, the Oscar statue bookends — is a woman who needs no introduction. The bilingual talent recently spoke with Premiere France — en Français, bien sûr — about her new film, Nim's Island, an adventure comedy with Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin, plus 'Flora Plum,' telephoto lenses, and whose roles she'd like to swipe.Most actors tend to make a few family-friendly pictures once their children are old enough to go to the movies. Is this what compelled you to make Nim's Island?
Of course that entered into the decision. This was the first time they could really be with me on set. [In the past] they'd come to shoots to have lunch with me, but they would then have to wait for me in my trailer because I usually had my hands full. But I also liked the role. Up until now, I've always played very dramatic characters who are suffering, fearful and alone. I sincerely thought that would change after doing an adventure comedy for children, but in the middle of filming I realized that my character, Alex, had the same problems. She's afraid of everything and lives in isolation.
Despite your character's problems, this role is clearly oriented towards comedy — a genre that you have not explored since 1994's Maverick.
People don't imagine me in this kind of film even though I am very lighthearted in real life, a far cry from the ultra-serious image I seem to have. But dramas have always attracted me more; I only rent [dramas] at the video store. It is rare that comedies pique my interest.
Since your turn in Flightplan three years ago, you've seemed to want to shake things up, in terms of what audiences and studios expect from you.
Yes and no... maybe... I knew that Flightplan was a typical American film, with a script that has some unexpected elements to it. The character touched me and gave me the opportunity to work with a fantastic young director, Robert Schwentke. As of now I am looking for roles that would provoke me to evolve as an actress, it's true. [I'd like to work] with directors who are capable of teaching me things, like Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Spike Lee or Neil Jordan. I'm getting older, too. The Brave One, for example, is not a movie that I would have been able to film when I was 20 years old. At that age, my vision of morality was black and white, Manichean. Today, it's more the grey part that interests me.
The Brave One had mixed reviews in France.
You mean everyone hated it! [laughs]
Did you expect these extreme reactions?
I'm very proud of the film and of all the risks it took. It's a drama that is both intelligent and primal at the same time. It's extremely primal — and I think that's what shocked people. To adopt the point of view of this woman — whose shame eats away at her, kills her, makes her hate herself — can unearth some particularly disturbing feelings. In France, this kind of film is only accepted if it presents a specific moral lesson. [The Brave One] recalls films from the '70s that focused on one character — like Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy or Straw Dogs — and had no moral lesson. They showed a brutal reality that [the audience] encountered head-on. We don't say it's good or bad; we say it exists.
Are you hoping that roles like the one that you played in Spike Lee's Inside Man will make you more attractive to directors?
I read everything, but I work very little. It's me who chooses. I've changed, my desires have changed. I've been making movies for forty-two years, and after a while some stories have been overdone. In fact, I would particularly like to work with directors who would be able to help me advance as a director.
Would you like to direct in the near future?
I've had other priorities in the recent past; I had to raise my children. Now that they are older, I would really like to focus on directing.
We are still eagerly awaiting Flora Plum. Luc Besson is co-producing, right?
Yes. He always supports me, and I sincerely hope that Flora Plum will one day get made. It's a film about a circus in the '30s, with complex costumes that drive up the budget. As is the custom with independent cinema, we've had a lot of trouble financing it.
Another of your projects, Sugarland, also fell through. Why, despite your popularity and that of Robert De Niro, who was supposed to act in the film, did it not come together?
Isn't it unbelievable? But that's the way it is. On top of that, Robert quit the project. It's a film about social politics, and because the world changes so quickly, our screenplay is already outdated...
On a recent magazine cover, you were described as "the antidote to everything one hates about Hollywood." Is this a compliment or a sad realization about the state of American cinema?
I obviously take it as a compliment. Since I've been around for so long, perhaps I work differently than other actors. I've managed to find a balance, to create stability for myself in a professional environment that is very volatile, very superficial. I think at 45, one could say that I survived, right? [laughs] They were also commenting on all the young actors who are targeted by the media.
Like Lindsay Lohan, who played your role in the remake of Freaky Friday. In seeing what happens to young stars nowadays, aren't you glad you grew up in the '70s?
It was great! We didn't have those enormous telephoto lenses that paparazzi are using now. We could do a lot of foolish things that people didn't know about. [Back then] even a popular 16 year-old actor did not get paid millions of dollars. The worth of children and adolescent actors has changed dramatically. We put them on covers, we spy on them... We squeeze the sponge as hard as we can, and when we're done we throw it away. It doesn't matter because we'll find another one soon enough. I had the luck of being protected by my mother, who wanted to make sure that I was taken seriously and who did all she could to help me achieve a long career.
What would you have done if you hadn't been an actress?
I think I would have been a writer or a teacher. I love to talk. When I was little, I wanted to be a professional talker, to which my mother responded: "Perfect, you only have to become the President of the United States!"
You often play roles that were meant for men. Whose roles would you like to swipe?
Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Penn, who are by far my favorite actors. The problem is that they're too good. I would never measure up to them!
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