Jodie Foster: j’accuse

This article is published in issue 21 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until May 25, 2021

There is one thing you immediately understand about Jodie Foster when you meet her: the actress does it, but she isn’t. There is no trace of complacency in her or desire to charm. Yet it is magnetic. It is impossible, during the whole chat, to take your eyes off his, sugar paper colored and magnified by a pair of glasses that are not at all fashionable. From the smile that crosses her tissue paper face.

From the wide and quick gesticulation inside an anonymous burgundy sweater possibly a little felted, which has little to do with Hollywood glamor. Of which she is queen, more or less forever. At the age of three the first set, for the advertising of Coppertone sunscreen, at 13 the first success, with the role of the baby prostitute in Taxi Driver, at 26 the first Oscar, at 50 the Golden Globe for Lifetime Achievement. By acting, she made it to the top. But, we are ready to bet, the same would have happened whichever profession he had chosen. Considered a child prodigy, she learned to read independently at the age of three, in elementary school she supported her family, at 13, at the press conference in Taxi Driver in Cannes, he acted as interpreter between French journalists and the American cast. She would have become a great translator if she had continued the study of foreign languages ​​started at the Lycée Français in Los Angeles. Or a great literate if, instead of spinning Under accusation, had applied for a doctorate at Yale where, in between films, she graduated with honors. Or even a great lawyer if he followed his passion for social justice. Passion that, in any case, he was able to indulge now, at the age of 58, in his latest film, The Mauritanian, out June 3 on Amazon Prime Video. Based on a true story, it tells the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian boy (now 50 years old) suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda and imprisoned for years in Guantánamo, and his defender, Nancy Hollander, who does everything to do so. to release.

Did you have to study some law to step into the shoes of lawyer Hollander?
“I have read all the interviews with the lawyers of the detainees in Guantánamo to understand the foundations of our laws, the relationships that are created between the defenders and the clients, the tactics deployed in court. I am passionate about law: after university I toyed with the idea of ​​enrolling in Law ».

Instead, just at that moment he took another train: he starred in two films, Under accusation e The silence of the lambs, which earned her two Oscars. The thirst for justice, however, has never subsided. Or am I wrong?
“Never. Even today, I get angry at least ten times a day ».

For what?
“For reasons I don’t like to advertise using my fame. I respect colleagues who succeed, I would not feel at ease ».

In addition to getting angry, does he take action?
“I do the same things that normal people do: I inquire, I pick up the phone, I use my hands, my feet.”

Do you talk about it with your children?
“Of course: both Charles and Kit (respectively 22 and 19 years, with ex-partner Cydney Bernard, ed) are passionate about politics, tireless defenders of civil rights. They are always there to read the news ».

Are they studying law, political science or what?
“None of that. The great plays theater. He’s a charming guy, he wears all black, has a weird haircut and is quite successful with girls. The little one is the opposite: a slightly nerdy chemist, complete with a bow tie and discomfort to be around people. He is someone who, when he concentrates on something, nothing can distract him: he doesn’t answer if I call him, he doesn’t hear if a train passes by, nothing. But, although so different, both are very involved in this moment of American choral awakening in the name of social justice ”.

So they enjoyed the movie.
“Very. On the other hand, it is difficult to remain indifferent to Mohamedou’s strength and Nancy’s dedication, which I would define as “a woman in the service of justice”. To think that she has been accused of anti-Americanism, when in reality the opposite is true: she loves her country so much that she is ready to test its founding democracy. A true democracy must be able to be prodded to define itself as such ».

It has also been suggested that she was not exactly in love with her country. It is said that he knows by heart The Marseillaise but not the American anthem.
“I know both of them. I studied The Marseillaise at school: they made us sing it every week. But I’m not mistaken a word of either The Star-Spangled Banner. They are the verses of America the Beautiful that escape me. But I don’t think there is a single American citizen who knows this song in its entirety ».

Moral, do you consider yourself patriotic or not?
“Yes a lot. I lived abroad for a long time, but I always came home: every time I felt homesick for what I know America can be. And I think that the government we greeted a few months ago does not necessarily represent the best of us ».

What does it represent instead?
“People like Nancy, staunch supporters of our constitution and human rights.”

When did you meet her, what idea did you have of her?
“She is a very intelligent woman who has suffered a great deal. She has spent years defending clients who have committed hideous crimes, who have lied to her and to the whole world. These things leave a burden on your shoulders that you have to deal with for the rest of your life. ”

And they condemn to loneliness, as it is perceived in the film.
“The real condemned to loneliness is Mohamedou: for seven years locked up in a six square meter cell, without seeing a soul but his jailers.”

He often came to the set. Is he an angry man today?
On the contrary: he is someone who hugs you a million times. He remained open to life after seeing the abyss: kidnapped, imprisoned without a charge, tortured, threatened, annihilated. 15 years have been stolen from him ».

Stories like hers make us want to stop complaining about our daily annoyances.
“Stories like yours could never happen to us, for the simple fact that we are not Muslim men. Everything he suffered is due to his ethnicity, his religion which made him suspicious. This is the most shameful aspect ».

Coupled with the fact that the Obama administration did not go out of its way for his immediate release. On the contrary: after being acquitted of all charges, he was detained for another five years.
“I don’t like to speak ill of Obama.”

But on Guantánamo he failed: he promised to close it, he didn’t.
“They didn’t let him. At the time, Congress was a Republican majority. They hindered it ».

Do you think President Biden will take over the problem?
“It’s possible. In any case, Guantánamo will be closed sooner or later. And do you know why? Because it costs too much, with all those soldiers, with that very high level of security for so few inmates (to date about 40, ed). The game is not worth the candle”.

I’m sorry realpolitik and little faith in mankind.
“No one can undo the fact that we had a government so scared that it set up a structure in which human rights have been forgotten. And the inmates abandoned to a cosmic solitude ».

Are you afraid of loneliness?
“For nothing. I love my family, but I’m also someone who needs a lot of time on their own. I have been like this since I was a child ».

Does it have anything to do with the fact that as a child she was rated as “prodigious”? Above-average intelligence and isolation often go hand in hand.
«I was very apt for the humanities, for languages. I don’t know if I was really a prodigy in all disciplines. In any case, of course, this intellectual side of mine made me different. That’s what I tried to tell in my first film as a director, My little genius, where the protagonist is a gifted child who takes care of his family at the age of seven. My childhood was very similar, rather lonely. ‘

Was she last alone?
«Finished the filming of The Mauritanian, in February 2020. At the end of each film I allow myself “the month of the mole”, in which I disappear for a while. That time I went skiing. I got off the plane and began to feel that something strange was going on in China. I shut myself up in the mountains. When I emerged, the world had changed ».

(The photos of the service are from the August / Contrasto agency)

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