Jodie Foster in “True Detective 4”, the interview

AND so relaxed and satisfied Jodie Foster who now even enjoys playing the role of the femme fatale, in tight sheath dresses and sequins. Despite being 60 years old and her natural reserve. «I’m finally becoming the person I always hoped to be» he tells me smiling in the meeting for the release of Nyad-Beyond the oceanor, the movie with Annette Bening which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Jodie Foster, the serenity of 60 years

«I passed the complicated phase of 50 when I was still convinced that I had to achieve ever new goals in my work: I had a schedule – point A, point B and C – because I wanted to continue chasing fundamental and significant cultural goals. When I reached 60 I realized that I was happy and satisfied when I’m with my friends and family; with them I am the person you can count on if you have a problem. Certain, I’m no longer the same Jodie as I was in my twenties. Well, now I’m living in a new and different period: I really dream of not setting myself any further or imperative goals. My dreams today are different, and I’m happy».

True Detective 4, the challenge of the dark

In his latest film, Nyad, for example, is happy to support Annette Bening who plays Diane Nyad. The actress plays the role of the friend-trainer of the marathon swimmer who, at the age of 64, crosses the ocean to reach Florida from Cuba. Jodie, however, speaks with enthusiasm above all about her latest television adventure True Detective: Night Country, fourth season of the miniseries (just started on Sky Atlantic and Now) made famous 17 years ago by the couple Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

In a freezing and dark Alaska, the actress plays detective Liz Danverschief of police in the fictional town of Ellis, and together with the colleague Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis, former boxing champion), must investigate the mysterious disappearance of eight scientists and technicians who operated at the Tsalal Arctic research center. Between eternal ice, very long nights, frozen corpses and with signs of torture, and mysterious presences, the series marks the Jodie Foster’s return to the small screen after about 50 years: it was way back in 1975 when it filmed The Secret Life of TK Dearing (but has since worked behind the camera and as a producer on various television jobs).

Let’s start by saying that her character, the sharp and frustrated detective Danvers, is an unpleasant woman: she is harsh, unfriendly, aggressive, sarcastic and merciless… at least apparently. The actress then wanted to be filmed with make-up that makes her look older than herself, with deep wrinkles, marked skin and sunken eyes. «Yes, I wanted to be a real bastard, a woman who makes herself hated» she states without hesitation «because she had a difficult past».

And she tells me she is satisfied with it having convinced Issa Lopez – the Mexican filmmaker, author and director of the series – to set the tone. She has a black shirt and jacket with a jais collar, short ash hair, lips with a hint of pink, Jodie Foster is very different from how she appears on the small screen: in person she is softer, younger. He then continues: «I like playing strong, flawed women. This is also an important moment in the history of cinema, streaming allows for quality storytelling and, as an actor, you have the opportunity to explore characters in depth. I was excited by the idea of ​​working on TV, for a long period, in a land I didn’t know and no longer just as a producer or director.”

In short, she liked the idea that the protagonists were two broken women, and their story had the spiritual and psychological world of Alaska as its backdrop, of its indigenous inhabitants, with Inupiaq rites and beliefs, (a community of natives from the North East). «When you meet them in person, you sense that they are connected to the world of the afterlife, the presence of the dead is part of their daily life. This strength and an aura of mystery make True Detective a show with astonishing charm.” I’ve been following Jodie Foster since I first met her in 1988 for The Accused; Since then I have continued to interview her for almost all of her films. When they proposed a visit to a set where she was working, a meeting in a hotel, or in a bar, wherever it happened, I always said yes and rushed: I liked it then and I like it even more today, chatting with her, following her in her professional choices, talking about books and travel, what it means to be an actor or a director and then – as our relationship became more frequent – also about her family life.

Family breakfast with readings

I remember, for example, the description of Sunday breakfast with his children, Charles and Kit: it began with reading the New York Times and the column The Ethicist (advice on the most difficult situations and moral dilemmas of today’s life held by the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah), with a discussion on current topics analyzed from opposing points of view. Theirs was a weekly ritual that aimed to stimulate the critical sense of the children – he explained to me. As a mother myself, I was struck by her rigor and mental order. Not that she completely surprised me, over the years I had learned to admire her abilities: her answers during our conversations were always clear, concise, logical, never a flaw or an adjective too many. And she considered it a useless affectation to cite the numerous national and international awards and recognitions that in the meantime continued to accumulate (including four Oscar nominations, the first for Taxi Driver at 14 years oldin the role of the child prostitute who made her a star, followed by those for Nell, Under accusation And The Silence of the Lambs, and for these last two films he won). Always scrupulous, pragmatic, very reserved for everything that touched her personal sphere, today the actress is more open and she welcomes me affectionately: «Alessandra, where are you? Where were you?”. And then: «You know that one day I will play you, you know that, right?». And she’s laughing like a little girl. She is also available, introspective and self-critical. «I have done many things, shot many films, but as a person, as a human being, now I know, I was left behind, and do you know why? I had never found time for friends, for those around methe work absorbed me completely.”

Jodie Foster, True Detective and the happiness

Now everything appears to her in a different light. She certainly feels the same enthusiasm when she sets foot on set, but Above all, she cares about being part of a team, and not being the protagonist with the burden of a film on her shoulders which will be seen in 3000 theaters in America. He wants to make room for those who are younger and have less experience. «It’s time to recognize that this is no longer my moment, now I can instead be of help to others, contribute with my experience – ideally even with a bit of wisdom – to that of a colleague, without feeling the feeling of being under constant pressure. Above all, it’s nice to feel proud of being part of a team and observing the talent and techniques of many of my colleagues. I’ve been in the movie business for 58 years, why go back to stories I’ve already told? I certainly don’t want to repeat myself. Anyway, reaching 60 and feeling so happy surprises me too. True Detective it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life» he concludes.

“You don’t always have to be in charge of everything, in your professional and personal life.” Check. It was a recurring issue, but now it is no longer dominated by it, allows himself to be photographed smiling with his wife Alexandra Hedison, married in April 2014 (previously she had been linked to Cydney Bernard for 20 years) and speaks of her children Charles and Kit and her “modern” family with pride. The existential and ethical impulse to continue learning, adhering to a perspective that is not only personal and opening up to different worlds and cultures remains, however, overbearing, indeed, perhaps it is stronger than it once was.

«True Detective it offered me the chance to immerse myself in a reality I didn’t knowlisten closely, from within their world, to the voice of the indigenous people of Alaska.”

I then recognize Jodie who underlined many paragraphs to read in the New York Times to broaden the horizons of her children, solicit their critical spirit, as she also made them celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, the annual event that celebrates African-American culture , and know the teachings of the Bible and the Koran, and the Buddhist canons “so that when they grow up they will decide which path to follow”.

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