The Foster phenomenon

Limelight
The Foster phenomenon
By Lubna Abdel Aziz
You could say she is "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"; that is everything about her, except her talent, which shines as bright as the midday sun. She has lived under the penetrating merciless glare of fame's spotlight for almost 38 years, an agonisingly long time for any celebrity, let alone one who will only turn 40 in November.
By age two, her career was under way. By four she had several commercials to her credit, by six she had landed her first acting role on television and by 10 she was on the big screen. Her first film Napoleon and Samantha (1972) led to many bit roles in cinema including several Disney productions. In 1974 New York director Martin Scorcese cast her in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). A year later he was desperately searching for a young actress to play a child prostitute in Taxi Driver (1976) opposite Robert de Niro. He needed a mature, complex, experienced actress who was still youthful looking to be a child prostitute. His search ended when he thought of the little girl who had worked with him the year before. The gamble paid off and both his stars and the film won Oscar nominations. The little girl startled audiences with her smart, yet painfully poignant performance, portrayed with such infinite care. The film community was dazzled. An actress was born!
Alicia Christian Foster was born in 1962, in a busy household run by the iron hand of Brandy Foster, her mother and three elder brothers who insisted on calling her Jodie. Her father had abandoned them before her birth, a fact Jodie could never forgive. Brandy struggled to survive and had her sons try out for TV commercials. As soon as Jodie was two, she joined her brothers and wasted little time in becoming the family's main breadwinner.
There are only two things about Jodie that are not average, her talent and her intelligence. It is painfully tempting for a child star to slide down the slippery trappings of stardom; but not Jodie. She enrolled at the Lycée Français in Los Angeles and graduated at the top of her class. She then entered Yale and studied literature, not acting. She never took an acting lesson in her life. It was the characters on the written page that intrigued her. In her books she could escape the conventional and commonplace world around her. Only between the walls of Yale and living among the characters of the literary classics could she escape the commercialism and phoniness of Hollywood. During the holidays she appeared in two French movies, Moi, Fleur Bleue, and La Petite Fille au Bout du Chemin, and later on in The Foxes and Hotel New Hampshire. With every film she broadened her scope, transforming her fragile frame into one of invincible steel, healthy athletic, full of unyielding strength and independence of spirit.
When John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1984, he cited Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver as the object of his obsession. Foster was shaken. Rather than hide or withdraw, she met her notoriety, with undaunted courage and graduated magna cum laude the following year from Yale.
Now, she was ready to devote full time to her thriving career. Fascinated by all angles of the camera, Jodie concentrated on producing as well as acting. Weary of Hollywood's usual fare of sentimentality she conducted a search for the strong, the novel, the unusual. Director Jonathan Kaplan came along with The Accused (1988), the story of Sarah Tobias, a white trash victim of gang rape, who takes on the male-oriented court, and wins. Pale, fragile, tiny Jodie jolted audiences with her vivid courageous portrayal, leaving us both breathless and spellbound. For that vivid characterisation she won her first Oscar for best actress at 25. That is the crowning laurel of any career. Not Jodie's. Restless and intense, she won her second Oscar only three years later for her portrayal of the smart, complex federal agent Clarice Starling, opposite the venerable Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991). Their unique interaction and their psychologically thrilling cat and mouse game won the film five Oscars: best actor, actress, film, screenplay and director, Jonathan Demme. She was the first actress ever to receive two Oscars before the age of 30. Jodie Foster was now one of Hollywood's most powerful players. Rather than proceed with another colossal project, Jodie chose to direct her first feature film. In a simple but polished style, she produced Little Man Tate, about a child prodigy, much like herself, for which she received considerable critical acclaim.
Astute and discerning, Foster was strangely enough, not first choice to play several of her brilliant roles. She came upon them when others turned them down. She replaced Michelle Pfeiffer in Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Meg Ryan in Maverick (1994) opposite Mel Gibson. Her latest release, Panic Room, directed by David Fincher (Seven, Alien) clearly a Hitchcockian homage has been thrilling audiences everywhere. The role was Nicole Kidman's, who after three weeks of shooting was forced to withdraw because of a bothersome knee injury, incurred on the set of Moulin Rouge. Within 24 hours, Foster accepted the invitation by David Fincher and canceled her commitment as jury head at the Cannes Film Festival, 2001. Once again she triumphs.
Satisfied to represent passions of others, Foster is a no-nonsense woman who often makes greatly controversial decisions. She all but shocked the world by refusing to reprise her role as Clarice Starling in Hannibal, the sequel to Silence of the Lambs. Producer Dino de Laurentis was livid: "We don't need her, she needs Hannibal. Besides she has no sex appeal". The press was merciless. She chose to do Anna and the King, which flopped miserably. She has no regrets.
She could earn more than $15 million a picture, which she now gets, but contends "you really don't want the extra $10 million". Foster roles are all modeled on the classic male single-minded heroes seeking truth and justice. Strong women's roles are hard to come by, so she seeks strong men's roles and reverses them. Tireless and determined, possessing a legendary work ethic, Jodie chooses to portray women who think: "They can feel too, but their feelings come later". Friend and co-star Rob Lowe once said, "If you could computer-generate the perfect actor, it would be Jodie".
Drama is an act of human contact, and Jodie's art and skill are both compelling and genuine. She follows her own philosophy, often baffling and frustrating. Her private life remains private. Over three years ago she gave birth to her first son Charles, and last September to her second son Kit, but no one has ever heard of a father, a husband, a lover, or a boyfriend. She enjoys nocturnal strolls on the beach, with only a loving dog trailing behind her. She gazes at the silvery tides, like a swallow fighting her way amongst blustery black clouds. The protective mother hen shrouds herself in mystery, but until Miss Foster, mother, actor, director, producer, chooses to reveal more details about her puzzling and mysterious life, the only mystery we will be able to solve will be the reason for the 'panic' in her upcoming Panic Room.
For Miss Foster, cool intellectual francophile, we recall Jean de la Bruyère: "Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think", in which case Foster has decades of mirth awaiting her. We admire women who think, and we will be laughing behind her all the way.
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