Jodie Foster Reflects On Long Career As She Is Feted In Marrakech: “I’ve Been Doing This Job For Quite A While Now”
Jodie Foster took stock of her career spanning more than 50 years as she was feted with an honorary award at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday evening.
The actress took to the stage after an extensive montage spanning early film credits such as One Little Indian, Taxi Driver and Bugsy Malone; to Oscar award-winning performances in The Accused and Silence of The Lands and her most recent role in French language drama Private Life.
“Seeing all these clips, I thought to myself: I’ve been doing this job for quite a while now,” she said. “I’m still here, a little older, perhaps more wrinkled, but guided by the same love of telling stories, of bringing characters to life, of asking questions about our connections, our fragilities, our humanity,” she continued.
Korean director Bong Joon Ho, who is the jury president this year, presented Foster with her award. In a tribute speech, Joon Ho said Foster was an example of how great choices make great cinema.
Citing a scene in Silence of the Lambs in which her character FBI trainee Clarice Starling, recalls the shrieks of young sheep, Joon Ho said it was the closeup of her face that elevated the take.
“All we see is her haunting performance… This is an example of a great choice,” he said.
“In Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, when Dr. Ellie Arroway enters the wormhole and witnesses the mindblowing celestial event we only see it for a brief moment, and Jodie Foster’s face steeped in awe, fills the screen… We are not moved by the depiction of the celestial event but by her face as she was witnessing it unfold. This too was a great choice,” he continued.
Joon Ho went as far as to say that it was Martin Scorsese’s casting of Foster in Taxi Driver that had made the movie, not that of Robert De Niro.
“The great choice was simply the casting of Jodie Foster and I need not say more because Jodie Foster was the foundation on which the film was built on, my sincere apologies to the great Robert De Niro.”
Scorsese also contributed to the ceremony with a pre-recorded message recalling his first meeting with Foster ahead of casting her in Taxi Driver.
“Your such an important part of my work, my career… nothing will ever take away the memory of you walking into my office,” he said, noting his admiration for the diverse body of work she has created since.
As she reflected on her career journey on stage, Foster said that beyond the work, her greatest achievement had been happiness.
“Truly, it might sound silly, but I am profoundly happy. As the film says, life is beautiful,” she said, thanking her wife Alexandra Hedison and children Kit and Alex.
