By tackling an argument as controversial as the cultural contribution of superhero movies, Jodie Foster is showing that she’s not afraid to speak her mind. After all, Foster’s career has spanned more than 50 years dating back to her screen debut in 1969, so there’s no question her knowledge of an actor and business acumen she acquired along the way informs any debate she enters.
While Foster feels it’s not her place to talk with young female actors about the career choices they make since those are personal decisions, she told Elle she’s concerned with how they conduct themselves away from the set. “I find myself reaching out to girls who could be my daughters and saying, ‘Wait a minute, you keep doing dumb things on publicity tours. What’s going on with you? This is a little self-sabotage. You know better than that. Who’s letting you do that? And where’s your mom?'”
As such, Foster is happy to be in a position to influence female performers in a positive way.
“I do have this really big soft spot for the young actresses who came up as young people, because I just don’t know how they survive without some mother around the way I had a mom around. To be able to say, ‘You’re overexposed,’ or ‘You’re torturing yourself,’ or ‘You have to have faith in your talent,” Foster explained to Elle. “You can go away for two years and have a life and come back and there will be work for you. Yeah, maybe it won’t be in some franchise, but what do you care? This is your life.”
“Nyad” is streaming exclusively on Netflix.
