Foster gets star on Walk of Fame – Actress celebrates her honor ‘as a director’

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Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (front row, centre left) and Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall (front row, centre right) pose with British Oscar winners for a group photograph at a reception in central London on May 4. The Oscars represent excellence in filmmaking and it is a testament to the talent in the United Kingdom that more than 300 British artists and filmmakers have earned this honour. (AFP)
Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (front row, centre left) and Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall (front row, centre right) pose with British Oscar winners for a group photograph at a reception in central London on May 4. The Oscars represent excellence in filmmaking and it is a testament to the talent in the United Kingdom that more than 300 British artists and filmmakers have earned this honour. (AFP)

LOS ANGELES, May 5, (Agencies): Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster was awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame on Wednesday — and revealed she was banned from the glitzy thoroughfare as a child.

The veteran actress was presented with the 2,580th star on the walk by longtime friend Kristen Stewart outside the iconic TCL Chinese Theater in the heart of Tinseltown.

“I grew up probably ten blocks from here, off Cahuenga, and had to pass this street every day as I was on my way to school,” she told fans, some of whom had been waiting six hours to catch a glimpse of the star.

“And my mother said if she ever found us on Hollywood Boulevard, we shouldn’t bother coming home.”

Foster, 53, is best known for playing FBI agent Clarice Starling opposite Anthony Hopkins’ serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 horror-thriller “The Silence of the Lambs”.

She won a best actress Oscar for that role, having picked up her first Academy Award, also for best actress, for “The Accused” three years earlier.

Her other credits during a more than four-decade career range from Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” in 1976 to 2002’s “Panic Room” — in which she starred with Stewart — and sci-fi blockbuster “Elysium”.

“Twilight” star Stewart said she already decided Foster was her favorite actress before they worked together, after seeing Foster’s controversial performance as a teenage prostitute at the age of 12 in “Taxi Driver”.

“There is nothing self-serving about her. She cares about people and she’s quite the opposite of the type of person that is gravitated towards being an actress,” the 26-year-old said.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has been criticized in the past for not awarding Foster a star decades ago, but has pointed out that recipients have to be nominated and agree on a date for the ceremony.

Foster said she’d always dreamed of receiving the honor but was waiting for the opportunity to celebrate her star “as a director”.

Foster paid tribute to her mother, Evelyn, who suffers from dementia and was unable to attend the ceremony.

“But there have been many other mothers in my life … women that are proud of you for all that you have done,” she said.

“But the especially nice thing is to be someone else’s mother, and to see them be here and be proud. And I get to say that I’m kind of Kristen Stewart’s mother, which is a pretty awesome thing to be.

“It’s just so awesome to have seen her grow up. I have to say that if I was ever going to be locked in an eight foot by 15 foot room with someone, I was really glad that it was Kristen Stewart.”

Foster, who made a speech at the 2013 Golden Globes widely seen as her official coming-out, married photographer girlfriend Alexandra Hedison in April 2014.

She has two sons, Charlie and Christopher, with ex-partner Cydney Bernard.

Quality

Jodie Foster has been a working actor for 50 years, has won two Academy Awards and her name has become synonymous with gutsy, quality performances. And yet there’s one honor that, until now, has eluded her — a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Of course, Foster has had opportunities over the years. But it was by choice that she waited until now. “I made this conscious decision that I didn’t want to have a star on Hollywood Boulevard unless it was in a conjunction with a movie I was directing,” admits Foster. “I don’t know why that was important to me; it seems silly, but that’s why I waited all these years.”

It’s an understatement to say it’s been well worth the wait; Foster’s fourth film as director, “Money Monster”, hits theaters May 13 after a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and is poised to be her biggest success behind the camera yet. The film stars George Clooney as Lee Gates, the host of the financial program “Money Monster”, who is held hostage on the air by a disgruntled viewer named Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell). Julia Roberts plays the show’s director and producer, who tries to help secure her star’s freedom, while also making sure she gets the best TV possible. It’s a fast-paced, clever film that will also surprise audiences with the amount of humor that comes from the situation.

Expectation

It was producers Dan Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine who approached Foster with the script about four years ago. “When you think of Jodie Foster, you think of a smart, strong woman who defies your expectations,” say the pair via email. “She’s built an amazing career of crafting unforgettable characters in some of our favorite films. It was clear within the first 45 minutes of meeting Jodie that we were talking to the director of ‘Money Monster.’ She wanted to make a film that said something but at the same time was a thrilling ride. That is a rare combination in movies these days. This felt special from the start.”

Foster put together an all-star cast, beginning with Clooney, and says she never considered acting in the film herself. “Once someone said the name ‘Julia Roberts,’ it was too perfect,” she notes. “Nobody thought she would say yes — but we figured we’d ask and get a quick no before moving on. But she expressed an interest, and I’m so glad, because she’s amazing.”

George Clooney stars as a the flamboyant host of a financial TV program in Jodie Foster’s “Money Monster”. Courtesy of TriStar Pictures

To play the gun-wielding Budwell, Foster saw countless actors before selecting O’Connell, who was the lead in Angelina Jolie’s then as-yet-unreleased “Unbroken”. Though Budwell was originally written as older, O’Connell won her over. “He came in with two strikes against him: He was British and he was young. I wondered how we would believe him as this guy from Queens,” she recalls. “But he came in and had the most amazing audition. He just blew us away.”

As an actor herself, Foster recognizes the importance of casting and has complete empathy for those coming in to audition.

“The first movie I directed, I had never been in a room after an actor leaves and heard producers say things like, ‘He’s too short, he’s too fat.’ I was just appalled,” she recalls. “So I’ve always made it a mission to be as generous as possible because it’s such a gift they come in with such an open heart.” Asked about what draws her to a project as a director and as an actor, Foster muses that the two are completely different.

“As an actor, I tend to make movies that focus on a singular character, often a lonely character,” she observes. “But as a director, I usually make ensemble movies. I always have a bit of lightheartedness in a film I direct; I can’t really make a movie as a director without some humor. But as an actor, I tend to like characters that are serious as a heart attack.”

“I always have a bit of lightheartedness in a film I direct; I can’t really make a movie as a director without some humor.”

Stepping behind the camera was always the aim for Foster, who began acting at the age of 3 and by 6 knew she wanted to direct.

Also:

LOS ANGELES: David Robert Mitchell is set to direct his original script, “Under the Silver Lake”, with Andrew Garfield attached to star.

The pic is a modern-day noir crime thriller set in Los Angeles.

The film is Mitchell’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed horror “It Follows”, with production set to start at the end of the summer. Insiders is handling international distribution.

Michael De Luca is producing under his Michael De Luca Productions banner. Chris Bender, Jake Weiner and Adele Romanski are producing as well.

“David Robert Mitchell is one of the great new voices in cinema and I am honored to be working with him and the entire producing team,” De Luca said. “I look forward to working with the esteemed team at Insiders to bring David’s film to audiences around the world.”

Lucy Kitada is overseeing for Michael De Luca Productions.

Mitchell’s “It Follows” premiered in 2014 at the Cannes Film Festival to critical praise. His first feature, “The Myth of the American Sleepover”, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, winning a Special Jury Prize and premiered internationally at Cannes Critics’ Week.

 

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