Jodie Foster has opened up about watching Greta Gerwig’s Barbie last year, while reflecting on the history of female directors in Hollywood.
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In a new interview with Time, Foster was asked about an interview she did with the publication in 1991 where she spoke about the lack of opportunities for women in the industry. In the same interview, she said she hoped there would be an “old-girl network” in Hollywood one day, at a time when there were few opportunities for women in the industry – especially in terms of directing and lead roles.
Looking back at the interview, Foster said: “Sometimes I read things I said in my [twenties] and I’m like, really? But that’s a pretty good one. When I was young, there were really no American women directors, maybe a few. I didn’t think I was allowed to be a director. And that’s not true anymore,” she explained, before going on to explain how “proud” she felt watching Barbie this summer.
Foster continued: “I couldn’t be prouder to have watched Greta Gerwig this year with Barbie. Not only was this wonderful director recognised, but it was because there were people behind her saying, ‘You’re not a risk.’ I never thought that was going to happen. So there’s just a big smile on my face.”
Elsewhere, Foster reflected on her own groundbreaking role in the industry, such as playing a female detective lead in Silence Of The Lambs at a time when few women had been cast in such roles.
Speaking about that, Foster added: “I didn’t realise I was doing anything special at the time. I just wanted to go on the hero’s journey. And the classic hero’s journey was reserved for men.
“Silence of the Lambs was revolutionary in that it posited that the hero’s journey could be a female journey. It’s been wonderful over the last 30 years to see different voices come into the picture — women protagonists and antiheroes that are complex and complicated and messy.”
Recently, Foster said that Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese were “scared” of her on the set of Taxi Driver.
During an appearance on the US chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote the new season of True Detective, the two-time Oscar-winning actor reflected on her experiences from being a child actor, including her landmark role in Scorsese’s 1976 film.
Foster noted how, because she had been on more film sets than Scorsese and De Niro at that point in time, her elder colleagues were somewhat intimidated when interacting with her.
“Yeah, they were a little scared, Scorsese especially, who kept giggling every time he talked to me. He’d start giggling and De Niro had to take over,” she said.
Foster also recently opened up about working with Gen Z actors.
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