Exclusive: Golden Globe Nominee Jodie Foster On ‘The Mauritanian’ & CBS Drama Series ‘Clarice’
Coming out this week from STXfilms is The Mauritanian from Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald and starring Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Zachary Levi, Saamer Usmani with Shailene Woodley and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Based on the true story and New York Times best-selling memoir of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Foster and Rahim recently received Golden Globe nominations for their roles in the film.
This is the inspiring true story of Slahi’s fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years. Alone and afraid, Slahi (Tahar Rahim) finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) and her associate Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) who battle the U.S. government in a fight for justice that tests their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch), uncovers shocking truths and ultimately proves that the human spirit cannot be locked up.
For Foster, who won two Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles in The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, it’s not that often we see her in films as of late or playing a real-life person. The last few times we saw her on the screen was in the thriller Hotel Artemis and the sci-fi thriller Elysium with Matt Damon. In speaking with BlackFilmandTV.com, Foster talks about working on this film to tell this compelling story of Mohamedou’s life at Guantánamo Bay and Nancy’s defense for him.
It’s not that often we get to see you in film. What was the attraction to taking on this project?
Jodie Foster: Yes, it's true. I get a little picky. After 55 years in the movie business, especially the last 10-15 years, I really just wanted to make movies as an actor. As an actor that feel meaningful, that feel like I learned from them, and that they somehow contribute to making me a better person instead of a worse person and help people have discussions. That can be a comedy. It can be a supporting card. I never know where that's going to take me. But this one was really Mohamedou’s story. This extraordinary man. There aren't many people in my life that I've met that I can go, "Wow, that is an extraordinary man." We have a lot to learn from him.
Did you do any research before, after or during the production?
Jodie Foster: Well, I didn't know anything about Guantanamo. I obviously knew that it was there. I knew that Obama wanted to close the place. And that vaguely that there were prisoners that had been imprisoned after 9/11. But I didn't know more than that. I suppose I was in my bubble and I wasn't asking any questions. My eyes were really opened by reading the script, and then I did more research. I read some books about the lawyers there and got to meet Nancy Hollander, who’s this amazing and very inspiring person. That's sort of how the obsession starts and then you go from there.
How much time do you spend with Nancy in terms of knowing her personality to play her? When her friends and colleagues see your performance, will they say, "Oh, that's Nancy”?
Jodie Foster: They will. I definitely said to her, "I'm not going to do an impersonation of you." She would say the most important thing for her in this whole part of her life was to serve Mohamedou and his story. We just really want to keep that in focus. That each one of the other characters and all of the other plotlines, whatever it was that all of it had to dovetail and serve his story, so that we can keep our eye on that prize. There's some things that are very true to Nancy, like her lipstick and her red nails and her thoughtful and persuasiveness, her mission about the law; about being the person that in the past agitated, but now is somebody who challenges government authority in to support the rule of law. I took some licenses, I think that although Nancy's a very strong person, I think my Nancy's a lot meaner than her,. Nancy, and I thought that was a good way to show how she shifted over time. The shift is true to her. I think Mohammed who did change her life, and, she eventually really grew to trust him. This is a very untrusting person. She is somebody that has a massive compartmentalized wall around her because she's defended a lot of indefensible, criminal, guilty people.
Having played her, and then having done your research, what's your opinion when you hear about these stories?
Jodie Foster: She's a real hero, and not a popular one, right? She believes that people deserve a defense, whether we're guilty or not. In fact, just recently, she's talking about insurrectionists, and she said, “They're going to get a really rigorous defense." That's going to be a tough job to defend those guys. They were basically burning the constitution and burning the idea of a free and fair election. They are gonna get a defense based on that constitution. She's somebody who really believes the rule of law. The film's a love letter to that.
Can you talk about working with Tahar and meeting Mohamedou?
Jodie Foster: Tahar’s extraordinary. I saw him in the movie The Prophet years ago and the first thing I said was, “Gosh, I hope I get to work with that guy.". He's really extraordinary. My role in this was really to create space for his performance, so that he could inhabit Mohamedou and that I could help him and serve him in any way that I can as a supporting actor. That was just so much fun. It was just such an honor. Shailene Woodley and I became very close and friendly on the film because we're in every scene together, and we just kept pinching each other, and feeling just that it was just this special honor to be there.
You mentioned earlier that you have been doing this business 55 years. Are you still learning?
Jodie Foster: Yes I am. I love education. That's my thing. I always did love going to school. The best part of being an actor is learning some new weird thing about some new part of the world that you hadn't knew nothing about. One of the things that's happened as I've gotten older, is remembering when I was young, I think I only thought movies. I thought movies were the only meaningful thing in the world. I didn't think there was any other way of doing anything meaningful. I didn't think of the military, or being a lawyer. It was just making movies was the most important thing in the world. And as I gotten older, I realized, "No, actually, there are other meaningful things." It's good to be able to make space for that, and to find other ways to serve. And not just make films.
There’s a series on CBS coming up called Clarice, based on your film The Silence of the Lambs. How do you feel knowing that there's a series coming out on a character that you played 30 years ago?
Jodie Foster: It's weird, but fun. I'm glad that Clarice lives and that she was so inspiring and able to stand the test of time. The Thomas Harris books are amazing. He's a great author. He made us do the best work of our lives. So I'm happy that the joy continues.
What goes into saying yes to the projects you take?
Jodie Foster: You never know. It's just a weird magic potion. I'm a reader. I really do love the text. For me, that's the number one thing and the director as well. Those two things, the vision and the text. Everything else comes after that. I still am old school and I still really believe that movies are by directors and I'm there to help them tell their story. The thing that I spend the most time on is figuring out whether that director is the right director for the film.
