Jodie Foster was in Cannes to premiere her latest starring role in Vie Privée, which screened out-of-competition. Jodie is fluent in French, and this film saw her acting and performing in French in a French production. Jodie has come back to acting in a bigger way in recent years, after largely taking a hiatus from Hollywood to raise her sons. But she loved this script, and she was especially chatty in Cannes. Some highlights from her Variety interview:
Doing a French movie, acting in French: “I’ve been wanting to go back and do a French movie, because I haven’t done one in a long time. For me, it’s always about trying to find the right piece of material. I didn’t want to do some overblown American and French co-production. As an actor, I need a story. And a lot of French movies, which I love, are behavior films where you just sort of follow people around for three days or something. That’s not what I do. I’m interested in narrative…It is fun [to act in French]. Acting in French was helpful, because I’m a different person in French than I am in English. I have a more vulnerable way about me. I’m less confident, not as sure of myself, which I think is more fun.
She’s fascinated by young actors today: “When I was a kid, I worked so much that by the time that I was 18, I needed to take a different approach. I see a lot of young actors, and I’m not saying I’m jealous, but I don’t understand how they just want to act. They don’t care if the movie’s bad. They don’t care if the dialogue is bad. They don’t care if they’re a grape in a Fruit of the Loom ad. If I never acted again, I wouldn’t really care. I really like to be a vessel for story or cinema. If I could do something else, if I was a writer or a painter or sculptor, that would be good too. But this is the only skill I have.
On Nicole Kidman pledging to work with so many female directors & actually doing it: “Wait, what? [Foster bangs the side of the couch she’s sitting on]. That’s incredible. She’s always working!… I’ve watched things change a lot. When I started acting, the only woman I ever saw on set was a makeup artist or script supervisor. Then I started seeing some more female technicians. But the last bastion has always been directors. When I decided to direct, I was lucky. The people that made decisions knew me, so they didn’t consider me a risk as a first-time director. But as an actor, before my last three projects, I only had made one movie with a woman director. That’s over 50 years.
Whether she would make a similar pledge to work with female directors: “It’s hard for me to be in the business of saying, half my movies are going to be made by women or men or whatever. Shouldn’t it be a more instinctual choice? You would hope that you’d be interested in the human being. I mean, Jonathan Demme on “Silence of the Lambs” was my favorite feminist director. That said, I think some sort of quota system is important when it comes to giving first-time filmmakers an opportunity. You need to start the process early so we all get the same opportunities.
What happened after she turned 60: “Something happens at 60. There’s a hormone that gets injected in your body, and suddenly you’re like, “Oh, I don’t care.” This all coincided with me getting really excited about helping to tell other people’s stories and to elevate voices that hadn’t been heard before. So with “The Mauritanian,” I was in that movie so I could tell Tahar Rahim’s story, not my character’s story. With “True Detective,” I wanted to engineer my part so it served the indigenous characters’ story. I want to bring whatever wisdom or experience or money or status I have as an actor to help with that. I got to tell my story, it’s someone else’s turn. And that’s much more fun. Who knew being a part of a community was so much more rewarding than being the person that has to open the movie on 1,500 screens?
The IDGAF Era: “My 50s were hard for me. It’s hard to embrace the transition. You feel like you’re a worse version of who you were. But something happened a few years ago. I woke up one day and was like, “I don’t care about any of the things that I cared about before. I’m gonna go down a different path.” Your kids grow up, your parents pass away, maybe you get divorced. Those life changes are shattering. But there’s a freedom that comes with that. As painful as it is to lose this other identity of being a dutiful mother or daughter or wife, you can also be like, it’s just me now.”
This is an amazing observation from an older actor: “I see a lot of young actors, and I’m not saying I’m jealous, but I don’t understand how they just want to act. They don’t care if the movie’s bad. They don’t care if the dialogue is bad.” It’s true in the sense that a lot of actors – especially non-nepo babies who have really struggled in the industry – are just happy when they get a job, any job. They just want to book jobs and keep it moving. Jodie doesn’t get it because she was working with Martin Scorsese when she was 12 years old, you know? But I also think Jodie should acknowledge that a lot of the younger actors don’t care about quality anymore, and there’s been such a realignment where… the youths don’t give a sh-t about working with auteurs or finding great scripts. They don’t have the patience or the money to wait for a “good” project.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- The “Vie Privée” (A Private Life) red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2025 in Cannes, France. Festival de Cannes 2025 – red carpet Vie Privee. – Jodie Foster,Image: 1001454834, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- The “Vie Privée” (A Private Life) red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2025 in Cannes, France. Festival de Cannes 2025 – red carpet Vie Privee. – JOdie Foster,Image: 1001540674, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Lionel Guericolas/Avalon
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- Celebrities attend ‘Vie Privèe (A Private Life)’ premiere during the 78th Cannes Film Festival 2025 Featuring: Jodie Foster Where: Cannes, France When: 20 May 2025 Credit: Dave Bedrosian/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
I won’t ever understand the need to insult or put others down to make your point.
Never.
She didn’t need to say that. It was enough to say what she likes in a script, what she looks for in a project.
The bigger issue is of course, not all “young actors” do this. So now she just sounds ridiculous. Zendaya has a stellar career she’s cultivated carefully.
I don’t mind her movies, but I don’t go out of my way to watch them either. Usually I watch for another actor & she just happens to be there. She’s ok, as an actress. I find her quite wooden most of the time, & she has a way of gritting/taking through her teeth I don’t like to listen to.
So far, Zendaya’s career has been about choosing mainstream and commercially successful films like Spider-Man and Dune. She hasn’t taken many risks in her career yet. I believe that emerging actors—whether they are nepo babies or not—first want to secure financial stability and gain popularity. Today, casting decisions are often influenced by the number of followers an actor has on social media, so being visible online can make a big difference.
This wasn’t necessarily the case when someone like Jodie Foster began her career. Back then, big-budget mainstream films—especially action or superhero movies—were not considered “serious cinema,” and actors who took those roles were often not taken seriously as performers. The industry has changed a lot, and now even blockbuster roles can boost an actor’s reputation if the films are successful or culturally significant.
Zendaya took a chance on those films. Just because they were successful after she decided to do them doesn’t negate she took a chance.
Plus with Euphoria? Definitely a chance.
Every role is a chance. Added to she took a lot of racism thrown her way.
Line, there was zero social media when foster was a new actor, there was no g damn internet. Stop mansplaining the internet (regardless of your gender). These days there’s maybe, ALL casting decisions for young actors are based on followers. Would Jodie be successful today? I doubt it. She’s not an appealing actor.. She was successful as a child in some pretty terrible roles, like Tatum. I find her unwatchable, and her voice is like rock against rock.. It’s awful. But I’ve I’ve never liked her as an actor and avoid her movies.. That voice is enough. Plus the Mel G thing.. I do think she was fortunate not to be in the internet age because she would not have a career.. That’s reality. She’s not that great. Good luck Jodie but you’re clueless and not watchable. Plenty young actors are amazing.
Jodie’s parents were rich and she started acting and earned money as a youngster with no bills. These actors playing “grapes” have to pay bills. It’s not really that complicated. She is coming from a place of privilege those people don’t have.
Those of us less privileged know that in order to find that Prince you need to kiss a lot of frogs.
That’s how I feel. A lot of actors need to get paid. Period.
Some actors will never reach a point in their careers when they can be choosy about who they work with or what scripts they get. They have bills to pay, kids or family to care for, and they are just happy to be cast. Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar and was still getting crappy scripts. On the other hand, Samuel L. Jackson works all the time because he loves to work.
And they don’t have to be young actors. The bulk of Robert DeNiro’s output this century is bursting at the seams with paycheck jobs.
Exactly. This is like when Boomers say that they don’t understand why Millennials wait so long to buy a house or start a family. It’s because we can’t afford to do it when we’re young–just like many actors nowadays can’t afford to wait for a great script. These days the movie industry is saturated with actors and content which increases competition for viewership and leads to fewer opportunities for new talent–and that’s to say nothing about the advent of AI.
If Taxi Driver was made today, an average actor would be competing for the role with 10 other 14-year-old actors. And it’s worth pointing out that when Foster was cast in the role, she had previously worked with Scorsese on Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Martin Scorsese called her mother to see if she would be interested in the role. Let’s not pretend that this is every actor’s experience—Jodie absolutely had privilege.
And you know, better actors than she was at 14 competing.
Like Elle Fanning at 14 or so? Kirsten Dunst? Saoirse Ronan? Dakota Fanning?! Kristen Stewart?
So many that were younger actors that role to role out act Jodie at the same age.
Foster didn’t grow up rich. Her father was in the military and left the family before she was born, leaving her mother to raise four young children as a single parent while working as a studio publicist. Even though her father’s family was wealthy, Jodie and her siblings grew up without any financial support from him or his side of the family.
Well, not every movie is going to be amazing. The stinkers need actors, too. And if all a new young actor can get is a stinker to develop their skills with, what’s wrong with that?
Acting is a job.
And if you are not rich you take the job. Like in every field.
I don’t thinks it’s that difficult.
By younger actors is she talking about Nicole Kidman who is a few years younger than Jodie? LOL. I don’t think it’s great Nicole never stops working. She’s been doing a lot of meh to bad projects (mixed with some good ones like BLL and Expats) and she doesn’t need to. A young actor who is doing it right I think is Sydney Sweeney. She’s got some interesting and different stories coming out after doing some really commercial ones. Anyway Jodie’s interesting because she had a leg up being so well regarded as a child actor but just didn’t care about money or fame so she did it for art.
I read the full interview yesterday. I don’t think she is talking down young actors. The question was “You wouldn’t have chosen to be an actor, but do you enjoy acting?” She was talking about how it wasn’t her choice to be an actor, she was thrown into the industry by her parents. By the time she was an adult, she thought that is all she is good at. That is why she doesn’t understand young people saying yes to even bad projects, because she knows they love the job and they can do anything just to be in the industry. Also, yeah, they can’t be choosy because of their financial status, but these people chose to work in the entertainment industry because they want to be actors even though it is so rare to make it.
This! Let’s not pile on Jodie. I understood what she was going for too…
Thank you. If you’ve ever seen a Jodie Foster interview she’s upbeat, funny and self deprecating. I’m really surprised as this thread bc she’s always been a champion of young actors but admits that it took her a while to feel comfortable so I think she’s simply trying to say how cool it is young actors are eager and enthusiastic.
@bananapanda, I honestly didn’t watch a lot of interviews of her, but I watch almost everything she makes, because I know as an actor she is picky, so it must be a good project. I think the answer makes sense inside the full interview. It isn’t surprising a child actor doesn’t enjoy the job itself. This life wasn’t their decision (she started at the age of 3 😭😭). I am sure, witnessing young actors enjoying the job and even enjoying bad projects is weird for her, since she never felt that. That is part of why she is picky, she doesn’t love the job, so she looks for the meaning in the project to accept the offer.
What she said about young actors was the least interesting part of this article. What she said about using her power to lift other stories and other voices, and her mindset changing as she ages, I found that to be much more thought provoking.
There were definitely less movies for the adult audience developed around kids and teens back in her day. And it was very unlikely that a kid or a teen entered the industry unless parents were wealthy or connected. From her current place, even if it was accomplished after a lifelong career earned by talent, it’s very easy being picky.
Woman who collaborated with Mel Gibson says other actors should be more choosy about the projects they accept, news at 11.
And she STILL protects him, reps for him, supports him openly….Ugh, Jodie. Do better. I also read the response about whether “she would make a similar pledge to work with female directors” as selfish: “It’s hard for me to be in the business of saying, half my movies are going to be made by women or men or whatever….That said, I think some sort of quota system is important when it comes to giving first-time filmmakers an opportunity.” So, yeah, definitely others should do it but no I won’t make a similar commitment!
She’s right about the language though. I speak French and I definitely have a different personality when I do compared to my native language. It’s part of hearing it and being it instead of just speaking it, if that makes sense…I imagine it’s the same for anyone who is fluent in a foreign language. “Codeswitching” I think is the term? And it keeps your mind sharp well into old age to speak a foreign language. I get why she’s so enthusiastic about it
Totally. I’m kind of a biatch when I speak in Spanish. I don’t know what it is but I’m impatient and way more direct prolly bc I don’t know as many words. In French I’m pretentious hahahaha
Jodie just sounds out of touch here. Its great for her that she had two Scorcese movies under belt by the time she was 18 but most actors simply don’t get that opportunity or have her financial security and need to hustle like crazy and hope that maybe they can work around their superhero movie supporting role to do some interesting work with an auteur director.
I have always admired Jodie Foster because she appears to be so smart. I get her point
I don’t. What she enjoys or considers worth the while isn’t necessarily what someone else enjoys. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such a variety of content out there.
She’s a huge supporter and defender of Mel Gibson. If you aren’t ok with people who defend Woody Allen, Danny Masterson, Harvey Weinstein or any number of monstrous people, then you should probably apply that same reasoning with Jodie–ya know, for the sake of consistency.
Absolutely.
People going out of their way to defend this privileged woman with such a terrible choice with Mel, I mean come on.
She meant exactly what she said. She’s shown us she’s that person and I believe her.
I don’t think she is trying to talk down to younger actors here, but I do think she sounds very out of touch. Yes, she is very talented. But does she understand how very lucky she also is, and had to be in order to have the thriving career she’s had for so long? One that included a chance to take a long break when she wanted to for personal reasons?
Foster was basically an established actress by the time she was a very young teenager, one who could get roles without auditioning. Like I said, that was due to talent but also dumb luck. She was a kid when she started, too young to really have to maneuver and hustle and sacrifice for her career. She even went to college and get an Ivy League degree without intrusive paparazzi following her. I was at school at the same time she was, and from what I recall she was able to fly under the radar and have at least a semi-normal college experience.
A friend of mine has a daughter who just graduated from a prestigious university program in drama. She has already been on a sitcom. My friend said she is picky about scripts and doesn’t want to do anything that doesn’t speak to her or she thinks is sub-par. But she can afford that. My friend and her husband bought an apartment in NYC where their daughter can crash whenever she wants to and for however long. A nice apartment. She doesn’t have to go work dressed in a fruit costume to pay her rent or student loans. She has sponsors: her parents. She’s a nice, hard-working and talented young woman, but she’s also privileged and lucky.
Also, actors work not just to pay the bills and literally survive but also sometimes just because they like it? Maybe some of them actually enjoy the “lesser” jobs, like being in commercials or playing the goofy sidekick in a low budget movie or whatever. Maybe acting is just fun sometimes. It doesn’t all have to be high art or Oscar material.
Right. Her taste in film isn’t necessarily everyone else’s.
I love Jodie, and I think like so many – it’s nuanced. Maybe skip the pile on the part that isn’t quite what she was saying (if you read the whole piece) then applaud her for all she said about lifting up others stories that don’t often get told. And than you Kaiser for writing about her! With the news cycle is so utterly grim at the moment, I’d seek out the positive as much as I can.
As an outsider, it seems to me like young actors have always just chased any old job to get started. (Clooney is hilarious talking about some of his early projects. And he was a nepo-baby, too!)
That doesn’t mean they’re not also going for the dream jobs, too.
Established actors have always done foreign commercials, had side-hustle promo things, etc.
I loved Jodie and Annette Bening in the movie Nyad. Superb!
I love Jodie but maybe I’m wrong but reading Jodi’s “I’m not saying I’m jealous comment,” the first thing that sprang to mind was, “Jealous would be the last thing I’d assume of Jodie Foster given her amazing career”. She’s someone you’d think would be incredibly happy with herself and career.
People’s comments always reveal what they’re really thinking, so I do think Jodie is a bit sad about ageing and not getting the “spotlight” role offers anymore. (I know she bends over backwards to support younger actors when she has the chance.) Anyway, she was great in Nyad as was Annette Bening.