Six months after her media blitz for True Detective: Night Country, Jodie Foster is still singing her series’ praises. Now, thanks to 19 Emmy nominations (including an outstanding lead actress mention and, for her producer work, a best limited series nom), she says she’ll keep playing hype woman for Issa López’s spin on the HBO franchise until their September reunion. “I could talk about it for the rest of my life,” says Foster. “And I think there are maybe two occasions I’ve ever felt that about something. This one is special.”
Speaking on the phone in late July, Foster discusses the more challenging parts of her True Detective shoot, what she wants to see more of in Hollywood and how the Longlegs/Silence of the Lambs comparisons finally caught up with her while she was trying to work out.
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A lot has been said about your rough day shooting in a tank of dark water on True Detective. Has that emboldened you to do more stunt work or shy away from it?
It’s whatever the job calls for. I’ve had to do that a lot in movies. Even though it doesn’t seem like much, I’m always carrying a child up a staircase or hiding under a bed or whatever. And because I’ve been in the business for a really long time and watched my co-stars go through so much, I know how to handle stunts in a really disciplined way. I also know which ones I’m not going to touch with a 10-foot pole.
Come to think of it, you have carried a lot of children up stairs.
I have! And it’s not easy. They’re dead weight, especially on ladders.
Liz Danvers is, initially, a difficult character to like. Do you feel it’s important to have empathy for a character you’re playing?
Well, empathy is kind of an interesting word, right? It just means that you can feel them. It’s always fun to play a villain or just play the edges of somebody, even the parts of yourself that you’re ashamed to mine or like to talk about. But I work the same way as an actor, as I do as a director, which is I need to understand the character. I don’t have to like them, necessarily, but I do have to understand the humanness of them — even the smallest character. If they’re real to us, hopefully they’re real to the audience.
You and Issa López grew close while making the show. Has she told you anything about the direction she’s going with the next season?
She talks to me a little bit about it, but I’m sworn to secrecy. It’s a process. They are so lucky to have Issa. She’s just my favorite director I’ve ever worked with. She’s the first one to question the script, even though she wrote it. She’s always open to changing things, and yet she’s organized and always has a plan — fantastic instincts. I’m sure that it’s going to be a great collaboration and it’s a testament to Issa and to our team, because we all still love the HBO people. That never happens. (Laughs.)
Do you tend to sit with a character during a shoot, or is it easy for you to shake it off?
For each character, that looks different for me. I enjoyed Danvers, because she thinks she’s really funny. She has this awful sense of humor and she distracts herself so she can turn off her mind and maybe turn off her heart. So, in order to do that, I played a lot of fantasy football while I was in Iceland. I was obsessed with my fantasy team.
Who are you eying for fantasy this year?
I’m not going to play this year. I’m going to go do a movie and my character is really not a fantasy football player. But I love Green Bay, so I’m always trying to not get overwhelmed with too many Green Bay players.
Are you at liberty to discuss this movie?
I’m making a little French movie. It’s funny they haven’t announced it yet, because we start shooting in a month. I can’t imagine that it’s a secret! It’s with a lot of French actors and a wonderful French director. It’s all in French — very small, very intelligent, interesting, lots of psychological drama, twists and turns, but also has a little humor to it. But you get nervous acting in a different language, and I’ve got a lot of dialogue. So that’s what I’m doing this summer, trying to get my mouth to move and my jaw not to hurt.
What would you like to see more of in Hollywood right now?
It’s an interesting time. I’ve been through a lot of different phases in the business and witnessed a lot of things come and go. As viewers, we’re now used to this luxury of eight episodes or multiple seasons in worlds where we can really immerse ourselves. The most exciting things are still happening on streaming, because that’s where the narrative is. If you want to make a movie, it’s a lot of technology and the pyrotechnics and money being spent on that — but those weren’t the reasons why I became an actor or an artist. Those movies aren’t the ones that changed my life. Narrative changed my life. So that’s what I’m excited to see more of.
Tell me the last thing you watched, television or film, that really excited you?
Well, I love Baby Reindeer. Every actor I know can’t stop talking about Baby Reindeer. I think it’s one of the most exciting pieces of television I’ve seen in years, and it’s attempted to do something that really just hasn’t been done. So yeah, I mean, I think that was the big revelation for me this year. That was my favorite, besides True Detective.
Have you seen Longlegs? There have been a lot of comparisons to Silence of the Lambs.
Today, at the gym, some guy was like, “Have you seen Longlegs?” I was like, “No, what’s that?” I was trying to move on and do something else, but he wouldn’t stop talking about it. (Laughs.) It must be really good.
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
