Jodie Foster hasn’t stopped gushing about True Detective: Night Country, even after six months of her publicity tour. Now that she has received nineteen Emmy nominations, including one for outstanding lead actress and one for best limited series, she has announced that she will continue to play the role of hype lady for Issa López’s version of the HBO franchise until their reunion in September. “I could go on and on about it,” Foster remarks. “And I think there are maybe two occasions I’ve ever felt that about something. This one is special.”
Speaking on the phone in late July, Foster addresses the more problematic elements of her True Detective shoot, what she wants to see more of in Hollywood and how the Longlegs/Silence of the Lambs analogies eventually caught up with her while she was attempting to work out.
A lot has been said about your tough day shooting in a tank of dark water on True Detective. Has that emboldened you to do more stunt work or shy away from it?
It’s whatever the job calls for. I’ve had to do that a lot in movies. Even though it doesn’t seem like much, I’m usually bringing a child up a stairway or hiding under a bed or something. And because I’ve been in the profession for a really long time and witnessed my co-stars go through so much, I know how to manage stunts in a highly disciplined way. I also know which ones I’m not going to touch with a 10-foot rod.
Come to think of it, you have carried a lot of youngsters up stairs.
I have! And it’s not easy. They’re dead weight, especially on ladders.
Liz Danvers is, initially, a difficult character to like. Do you feel it’s vital to have empathy for a character you’re playing?
Well, empathy is kind of an interesting word, right? It only implies that you can feel them. It’s always fascinating to play a villain or just play the edges of somebody, even the bits of yourself that you’re ashamed to mine or want to talk about. But I work the same way as an actor, as I do as a director, which is I need to understand the character. I don’t have to like them, necessarily, but I do have to understand the humanness of them — even the smallest character. If they’re real to us, hopefully they’re real to the audience.
You and Issa López grew close while making the show. Has she told you anything about the direction she’s going with the next season?
She talks to me a little bit about it, but I’m sworn to secrecy. It’s a process. They are so lucky to have Issa. She’s just my favorite director I’ve ever worked with. She’s the first one to question the script, even though she wrote it. She’s always open to changing things, and yet she’s organized and always has a plan — fantastic instincts. I’m sure that it’s going to be a great collaboration and it’s a testament to Issa and to our team, because we all still love the HBO people. That never happens. (Laughs.)
True Detective: Night Country is up for 19 Emmy nominations, more than any limited series in 2024, including a best actress mention for Jodie Foster. Courtesy of HBO
Do you tend to sit with a character during a shoot, or is it easy for you to shake it off?
For each character, that looks different for me. I enjoyed Danvers, because she thinks she’s extremely funny. She has this dreadful sense of humor and she distracts herself so she can turn off her head and maybe turn off her heart. So, in order to do that, I played a lot of fantasy football while I was in Iceland. I was enamored with my fantasy team.
Who are you eying for fantasy this year?
I’m not going to play this year. I’m going to go do a movie and my character is actually not a fantasy football player. But I love Green Bay, so I’m always trying to not get overwhelmed with too many Green Bay guys.
Are you at liberty to discuss this movie?
I’m making a short French movie. It’s strange they haven’t publicized it yet, considering we start shooting in a month. I can’t imagine that it’s a secret! It’s with a lot of French performers and a superb French director. It’s completely in French – very small, extremely intelligent, engaging, plenty of psychological drama, twists and turns, but also has a little humor to it. But you get anxious acting in a new language, and I’ve got a lot of dialogue. So that’s what I’m doing this summer, attempting to get my mouth to move and my jaw not to hurt.
What would you like to see more of in Hollywood right now?
It’s a fascinating moment. I’ve been through a lot of various eras in the company and observed a lot of things come and go. As viewers, we’re now used to this luxury of eight episodes or numerous seasons in universes where we can really immerse ourselves. The most interesting things are still happening on streaming, because that’s where the narrative is. If you want to make a movie, it’s a lot of technology and the pyrotechnics and money being spent on it — but those weren’t the reasons why I became an actor or an artist. Those movies aren’t the ones that altered my life. Narrative transformed my life. So that’s what I’m excited to see more of.
Tell me the last thing you watched, television or film, that really excited you?
Well, I love Baby Reindeer. Every actor I know can’t quit talking about Baby Reindeer. I believe it’s one of the most fascinating pieces of television I’ve seen in years, and it’s endeavored to do something that really just hasn’t been done. So yeah, I mean, I think that was the huge discovery for me this year. That was my favorite, besides True Detective.
Have you seen Longlegs? There have been a lot of comparisons to Silence of the Lambs.
Today, at the gym, some guy was like, “Have you seen Longlegs?” I was like, “No, what’s that?” I was trying to go on and do something else, but he wouldn’t stop talking about it. (Laughs.) It must be pretty good.
