Teen star to leading lady

Celebrated Hollywood actress Jodie Foster turns 53 tomorrow. Aref Omar lists some of the Cecil B. DeMille Award-winner’s films

FREAKY FRIDAY (1976)

Foster actually got the role as Princess Leia in Star

Wars: Episode IV (1977) when its creator George Lucas initially wanted to make the character young. But on her mother’s advice, the young actress honoured her then ongoing contract with Disney to complete Freaky Friday instead. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her role as a body-swapping teen in this fantasy comedy.

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

The actress plays an underaged street walker opposite an edgy Robert DeNiro in this classic vigilante film. Her 19-year-old sister Connie was cast as her body double for the more explicit scenes since Foster was only 12 at the time. She received an Oscar nomination and a Bafta for Best Supporting Actress.

THE ACCUSED (1988)

This drama sees Foster as a rape victim who is helped by a prosecutor to bring the perpetrators to justice. After a pre-screening of the film, Foster thought her performance was so awful that she considered leaving her film career behind. Her fears were unfounded as she ended up winning an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Actress.

LITTLE MAN TATE (1991)

When director Joe Dante left due to creative differences, Foster took over and the film became her directorial debut. She also starred as the single mother of a young boy who turns out to be a genius in this drama.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1992)

This quintessential horror thriller, that introduced Hannibal “the cannibal” Lecter to moviegoers, has Foster as a green FBI agent engaging in a battle of wits with the incarcerated Lecter in order to hunt down another serial killer. The actress says that Anthony Hopkins, who plays Lecter, improvised mocking her southern accent when the two meet for the first time onscreen. Although she felt personally attacked and angry at first, her horrified reaction was genuine, and she later thanked the actor for it.

Foster made a clean sweep of the Best Actress award, winning an Oscar, Golden Globe and Bafta.

NELL (1995)

Foster plays a mysterious hermit woman who grew up in a remote woodland cabin in this quirky drama. Her preparation included reading the same books that French actor-director Francois Truffaut read as research for his similarly-themed film, The Wild Child

(1970). Being fluent in French, Foster read them in their original language. The talented actress received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress.

CONTACT (1998)

This sci-fi drama sees Foster as a scientist who uncovers conclusive proof of intelligent aliens when they send plans for a mysterious machine. This was her first time working with blue screen technology, which she described as being really tough. Foster also said that if she were to be given the opportunity to go to space — but not come back — she would pass. “I’m perfectly happy to be ignorant. Let the mysteries of the universe be clear to someone else.”

She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

THE BRAVE ONE (2008)

after recovering from a brutal attack in this psychological thriller. She really liked the idea that a woman would externalise her rage, instead of becoming a victim. Aside from receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, the film also earned her the highest paycheck of her career at US$15 million (RM65 million).

CARNAGE (2012)

Based on the Tony Award winning play, God Of

Carnage, by French playwright Yasmina Reza, Foster takes on the role of one of two pairs of parents out to resolve a fight that their children get into. Eventually the parents prove to be even more childish and chaotic than their young ones. Foster received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

ELYSIUM (2013)

This sci-fi action film sees Foster as the villainous Defense Secretary Delacourt, who oversees a man-made space station in the future that practices the class segregation of humans. Her character was originally written for a man and represented the first time she ever had an onscreen death scene.