Checking into Hotel Artemis
> Hollywood legend Jodie Foster returns after a long hiatus in a dystopian neo-noir crime film
HOTEL ARTEMIS in the year 2028 is a 13-storey art deco structure that has lost its appeal a long time ago. But housed in its penthouse is a state-of-the-art hospital funded by mobster The Wolfking (Jeff Goldblum), and it is exclusive for members-only criminals. Dues are paid in advance, and all house rules must be followed.
Running the hospital for the past 22 years is the no-nonsense mystery woman everyone calls The Nurse, played by two-time Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster ( far right).
Assisted by her loyal orderly, Everest (Dave Bautista), The Nurse is a hi-tech healer who can handle almost anything – except the outside world.
One night, after checking in a sultry French assassin (Sofia Boutella), and a narcissistic arms dealer (Charlie Day), The Nurse finds out that The Wolfking and his volatile son, Crosby (Zachary Quinto), are on their way to the hospital. And out back, injured cop Morgan Daniels (Jenny Slate) is begging to be taken in.
The Nurse is soon forced to break her own rules, and confront everything she’s worked so hard to avoid.
This dystopian neo-noir crime film marks the feature film directorial debut of screenwriter Drew Pearce, who also wrote the screenplay for Hotel Artemis.
In an interview transcript provided by TGV Cinemas, the distributor of the film in Malaysia, Foster talks about her role in Hotel Artemis, which opened in cinemas here yesterday.
It’s been five years since your last role. Were you just waiting for the right script to call you back to acting? “Yeah, pretty much ... In fact, this script I just sort of found mysteriously. It wasn’t even out in the agencies or available.
“Because I’m so picky ... I was really looking for something that felt more like a transformation and felt more like a character performance; not so much carrying the film on my shoulders and doing the same kind of genre that I have done before.”
How would you describe the universe of “It’s a weird combination of being a film that has a very retro, oldfashioned, nostalgic old Hollywood landscape to it.
“[And] that’s kind of almost like Chinese filmmaking to it, and there is kick-ass sci-fi, everything happening in the future, action film.”
The Nurse is different than any character you have played, and a lot of that difference is rooted in her appearance. “That’s really the reason I wanted to do the movie, and I had to fight for it. I’ve been looking for a transformation character for five years.
“I think the producers were a little scared. They were like: ‘Wait a minute. You’re not going to look bad, are you?’ [laughs] It’s like: ‘If you’re not the same Jodie Foster everybody’s used to seeing, then do we want that?’
“But it was important. That was the character. She’s a 70year-old woman who hasn’t left that room for 25 years and lives on tacos and hasn’t had any vitamin D.”
How is it like working with director Drew Pearce? “He really knew everything that he wanted. It’s absolutely his vision on screen. Everything that happens, that’s good in the movie, it’s because Drew went out and pursued it like a dragon and made it happen.
“I am just so proud to be in the film with him.”
What’s the difference you see between Los Angeles 2028 and Los Angeles 2018? “Well, it’s all there. I mean, some of the topics of the movie, [like] water riots because there isn’t enough water to go around ... and the fact that the healthcare system has now become so expensive and that criminals have this members-only [hospitals], which is already happening now.
“Even the technology [in the film], the technology that comes from the military for the robotic arms that do all the surgeries, all of that is happening now.”
If you could or have your own hotel, what would it look like?