Published at 1:20 am. Updated at 7:00 a.m.
Jodie Foster knows she hasn't appeared in the credits of a television production in ages. At least as an actress. When, during a virtual press call, we mention the 49-year gap between The Secret Life of TK Dearing, a small ABC afternoon film from 1975, and True Detective, that HBO anthology series broadcast by Crave in Quebec, the famous actress smiles.
Television has long been considered the poor child of cinema, even of its school clubs. The move from the small screen to the big screen meant advertising. The opposite, with retrograde. “Back then there were two different ecosystems,” emphasizes the former child star.
“But I have worked a lot in television as a director and producer,” she adds.
Jodie Foster also serves as executive producer of True Detective: Night Country. However, it is his work in front of goal that will turn heads in the coming weeks.
Directed by Issa López (“Tigers Are Not Afraid”), who also wrote the lyrics, the 61-year-old star plays Liz Danvers, a detective responsible for solving the strange disappearance of a group of eight scientists in the USA operated a research station in Ennis, a small fictional – and snowy – town in Alaska. Assisted by Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), a hot-tempered police officer, she will try to make a connection between this case and the unsolved case of an indigenous woman who went missing a few years earlier.
“It was just a beautiful scenario,” explains Jodie Foster from a hotel room in Los Angeles. It was so inspiring. It was about grief, about the dead who live among us, about sexism, about equality, about people mistreating nature… and about the idea that at any moment that same nature can awaken, rebel, and counterattack. »
Hello again, police
True Detective: Night Country marks another reunion: that of Jodie Foster with the police, three decades after “The Silence of the Lambs”, that cult thriller by Jonathan Demme in which she played Clarice Starling, an FBI agent at the beginning of her career.
When a journalist talks about her return to the police uniform, the actress humorously corrects him.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster shared the screen in The Silence of the Lambs.
Technically, Clarice never wore the uniform; she only wore bad suits.
Jodie Foster on her legendary character in The Silence of the Lambs.
The two protagonists are different, the two-time Oscar winner continues. One was a bright, young intern, motivated and hopeful for the future; the other, a snappy, strict and stubborn police chief who refuses to open up to others.
“But they come from a very male environment: the police environment,” she admits. Clarice and Danvers had to toughen up and build a shell. You also need to combat misogyny. But they approach it completely differently. »
An intact aura
Jodie Foster has slowed down over the last 10 years. She has appeared in a few feature films (Nyad, The Mauritanian, Elysium, Carnage) and directed half a dozen episodes of series (Black Mirror, Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards), but generally she has stayed away from the spotlight .
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BELL MEDIA
Jodie Foster wears a police uniform to play Police Chief Liz Danvers.
When I was younger, I would go from one project to the next without taking a break. As I got older I changed, I realized certain things. Today I want to live my life with my children. My approach is different.
Jodie Foster
Despite her distance from the industry, Jodie Foster maintains her special aura, both towards journalists (before asking her question, some emphasized how “honoured” they felt to have the opportunity to interview her) and their colleagues.
For Issa López, Jodie Foster remains “the best actress alive.” In a remote interview, the True Detective: Night Country creator and writer praises “her discipline,” “her depth,” “her intelligence,” and “her collaborative spirit.”
“She spoiled me terribly as a director… That could be a problem, because all the actors and actresses who will come after her and who don't have the same humility and the same desire to make the work better… Me I have no desire to work with them! »
PHOTO RYAN PFLUGER, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVE
The creator, writer and director of the fourth part of True Detective, Issa López
For Kali Reis, who plays Jodie Foster in True Detective, the veteran was “wonderful.”
“I was a groupie for 30 seconds, but after that it was a real collaboration. She was interested in anything we could contribute. She didn't say, “I have more experience than you, so here's what we have to do.” She said, “Here are my ideas.” What are yours?” She gave me an extraordinary experience. Playing with Jodie Foster… What a great start to my career! »
True Detective: Night Country is presented in the original English version and in the French version on Crave. A new episode appears every Sunday at 9 p.m. The series is also broadcast on Super Écran.
The night in the cold
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BELL MEDIA
Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in a scene from True Detective: Night Country
To stay warm while filming the exterior scenes of True Detective: Night Country, Jodie Foster followed the following four-step recipe: a heavy coat, winter boots, padded gloves, and plenty of hand warmers and strategically placed toe warmers. “We had to work hard! » says the actress.
The action of the crime novel takes place in northern Alaska, in a part of the Arctic Circle, where the phenomenon of “polar nights” occurs every year, i.e. days without sun that can last up to two months. However, for logistical reasons, filming took place at night in Iceland.
The harsh climate not only complicated Jodie Foster's adventure (she was ill for about ten days), but also favored her interpretation. “Unless they were born there, the people who live in these places are trying to escape something,” believes the main stakeholder. The conditions inform us about the spirit of survival they must have. Because if your car runs out of fuel in extreme cold, it's over: you die. »