Foster behind the camera for creepy movie

The first movie that Jodie Foster ever directed was about a single mom raising a son. Her latest project behind the camera is also about a single mom — but this time one who is raising a daughter.

For an episode of the Netflix series “Black Mirror,’’ Foster had to dig deep into mother-daughter dynamics to tell the story of a mom so anxious about her girl that she turns to a sophisticated surveillance tool.

Foster is a mother of two boys — and her debut as a director was “Little Man Tate’’ in 1991 — so she reached back to how she interacted with her own mom and the push and pull that involved. It’s different with boys, she said.

“When you’re raising a man, you’re just so in awe at how different they are,’’ she said. “It’s just so amazing to you how different they are in every way — not just the physical ways but how they think. It’s very easy to understand that they are separate from you. It’s not so easy, I think, with female children.’’

The “Black Mirror’’ episode, titled “ArkAngel,’’ is part of season four of writer Charlie Brooker’s anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world. Foster’s episode stars Rosemarie DeWitt, whose credits include “La La Land’’ and “Mad Men.’’

DeWitt, who has two young daughters, plays the mom wrestling with the implications of eavesdropping on her daughter as she grows into a woman. The actress laughs about a “gentle tension’’ on the set.

“I sometimes felt Jodie was really rooting for the daughter and I was really rooting for myself. So we had this combustible thing,’’ said DeWitt. “It’s a really sticky relationship — mothers and daughters.’’