JODIE FOSTER ON ‘THE MAURITANIAN’, DAVID FINCHER’S ‘PANIC ROOM’, AND THE ENDING OF ‘CONTACT’

BY STEVE WEINTRAUB

She also talks about why she is so selective with the roles she takes on and why she said yes to ‘The Mauritanian’.

With director Kevin Macdonald’s Guantanamo Bay drama The Mauritanian opening in select theaters this weekend, I recently got to speak with Jodie Foster about playing defense attorney Nancy Hollander in the film. Written by M.B. Traven, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani and based on the NY Times best-selling memoir “Guantánamo Diary” by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the film tells the inspiring true story of Slahi’s fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years. Led by an incredible lead performance by Tahar Rahim (who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe), the movie also stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the military prosecutor trying to convict Slahi, Shailene Woodley as Foster’s associate lawyer, and Zachary Levi as a CIA agent. For more on the film watch the trailer or read Matt Goldberg’s review.

During the interview with Foster, she talked about why she’s so selective with the roles she takes on and what was it about The Mauritanian that got her to say yes, why Kevin Macdonald was the right filmmaker to tell Slahi’s story, how the iguanas on the base were treated better than the prisoners, and more. In addition, she shared a fun story about making David Fincher’s Panic Room, what she’s currently developing to direct, and we briefly talked about the ending of Robert Zemeckis’ Contact and Carl Sagan.

https://collider.com/jodie-foster-interview-the-mauritanian-panic-room-contact/