After almost five decades of career, he finally sees that “cinema is not everything.” We spoke to the actress from ‘The Mauritanian’, for which she won her fourth Golden Globe and who brings us back to one of the last Hollywood icons.
His absence from the list of nominees deprives us of what would have been one of the great moments in one of the strangest editions of the Oscars: seeing Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster (Los Angeles, 1962) opting for an equal statuette. than 30 years ago, when the two won for ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (J. Demme, 1991). “Tony is fantastic in ‘The father’ (F. Zeller, 2020). He does a magnificent job,” says the Californian in a virtual meeting with PHOTOGRAMS of her partner, a candidate at a gala in which she did not will be. And that, after her Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, all the pools pointed out that ‘The Mauritanian’, the film by Kevin Macdonald (‘The Last King of Scotland’) in which 14 years in prison are portrayed without charges at Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s Guantánamo, would earn him his fifth nomination. It was not like that and the film, with Tahar Rahim, Shailene Woodley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Zachary Levi in its main cast, did not add any nominations. “I’m already happy that people see the movie,” says Foster. “It is not an easy film … And the cinema is going through such a strange moment that it even surprises me that the public is aware of what is being released, that there are new films. Not to mention the crazy political moment that we are living. And ‘The Mauritanian’ has a clear political reading. I am satisfied with the mere fact that it has gone ahead and I may have participated. “
REAL (FILM) POLITIK
“Throughout my life, the cinema has always been the most important thing,” she continues. “It is also true that I started in it as a child and that I am still here, but even then I thought that there was nothing better or more transcendental. More than being a doctor, more than politics. Cinema was everything. I think as I’ve gotten older – much older, he says jokingly – I’ve finally realized that there are other means with which to be part of the change “. Like those followed by Nancy Hollander, the tenacious New Mexico lawyer that Foster embodies in ‘The Mauritanian’. The second real character she has played in nearly five decades of her career. “And the first one,” she says of Anna Leonowens, her role in ‘Anne and the King’ (A. Tennant, 1999), “was from the 19th century, so she didn’t put pressure either,” she laughs. “Nancy is not a well-known figure. She is not Nixon or Kennedy, with which I have been able to take a series of licenses so as not to have to conform to her way of speaking or being. Even changing or leaving out elements of her life, building in our own way his arc. I guess that’s something that has always kept me from biopics, having to stick to a narrative that is guided by the facts rather than creating one that works dramatically. What we have set out with Kevin (Macdonald , the director) is to focus on the characters and the relationships that are forged between them. That is why I think that ‘The Mauritanian’, despite some who see it that way, is not a political film, but it does deal with issues that Even today they are delicate for us Americans, like 9/11 and its consequences. In that sense, the ideal of Nancy, who firmly believes that testing the American legal system is the best way to defend it, defines the character and gives account of the humanistic feeling and reconcile dor of the film “.
THE PRISONER 760
This feeling is largely due to the figure of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, prisoner 760 – the title originally planned for the film – played by Tahar Rahim in “a composition”, Foster declares, “extraordinary”. “We talked about it with Shailene after filming with him. Being present in a moment of such intensity for an actor is a privilege. And it feels so good, he has a liberated account. Besides, and although we all have our style, acting is very simple: you agree on the goal and pay attention to what your teammates need. That and stay true to your character. There is no more, “he says. Ould Slahi, the real man, exorcised years of torture, mistreatment and confinement in “Diario de Guantánamo” (Ed. Captain Swing). In his cell, she learned English by listening to her jailers and watching American movies non-stop. Your favorite film of his? ‘The big Lebowski’ (J. Coen, 1998). Your favorite film of him with Foster? “Yeah,” laughs the actress. “Mohamedou is an absolute fan of ‘Maverick’ (R. Donner, 1994). What can I say? He is passionate about romantic comedies,” she laughs. Although it may seem otherwise, Annabelle, the poker player of that title, has a lot in common with the bulk of characters that Foster has embodied in his career: “That is something that you do not see at the moment, which is only given by the perspective of the time. I tend to play women who seek to do the right thing, I flee from weak women, without their own opinion … They are not used to being good leading roles
