By SEAN DALY Special to the Daily Press
“Embarrassing.” That's how Jodie Foster describes her early performances in “Bugsy Malone,” “Candleshoe” and “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.”
“I can't watch that stuff anymore,” the two-time Oscar-winner admitted. “It was such an awkward age for me. If I could just cross out everything I did between the ages of 14 and 16, I would.”
Now 40 and a single mom to Charles, 3, and Kit, 4 months, Foster is considerably more enthusiastic about her latest project - the dramatic thriller “Panic Room,” opening Friday.
“I was five months pregnant when we made this movie,” Foster said during a round of interviews in Los Angeles. “You can see that if you are really paying attention.”
In “Panic Room,” a newly divorced mother (Foster) and her 10 year-old daughter (newcomer Kristin Stewart) become trapped in a secret hidden chamber inside their New York City brownstone during a dramatic home invasion robbery.
“I'm not a very paranoid person,” Foster said, “but if there is a message in this movie, I think it is: ‘Do not get a panic room!’”
Foster, a 1985 graduate of Yale University, who excels at kickboxing, karate and aerobics, took over the role of Meg Altman when Golden Globe winner Nicole Kidman injured her knee during the first days of filming.
“I'm a good candidate for jumping blindly into a role,” the actress said, laughing. “I did it before on ‘Maverick’ — I took over for Meg Ryan.”
“I'm a good candidate for jumping blindly into a role. I did it before on ‘Maverick’ — I took over for Meg Ryan.” — — JODIE FOSTER Actress
Call it experience paying off. After all, Foster has been in show business for nearly her entire life.
The Southern California native made her professional acting debut — bare bottomed — in a Coppertone suntan lotion commercial at age three. By 12, Foster earned her first of four Academy Award nominations for the portrayal of a teenage prostitute in “Taxi Driver.”
In 1989, Foster collected her own Best Actress statue for “The Accused.” She earned another three years later for “The Silence of The Lambs.”
“I used to keep (the statues) right next to my bathtub,” she said, laughing. “But they started getting corroded, so now they are in a little trophy case.”
Despite her success as an actress, director and producer, Foster said she wouldn’t push her own children into show business.
“I'd try to support them if it was something they wanted to do,” she said. “But I wouldn't want to be involved in their career because I think that is a mistake. I think it's important for kids to know that they can run home to you as a parent and your love for them doesn't have anything to do with their work.
“It's important to separate the two.” So far, Foster said motherhood is going “just great” the second time around.
“Now that I've had a toddler, a pre-schooler, newborns are like...they're a piece of cake,” she said. “I mean, you put them down, and they don't move. They just sleep. They don't crawl away. They don't fight you.”
Foster, whose sexual identity has often been the subject of speculation, is quick to dodge any personal questions about her children and prefers not to reveal the identity of their father. She is, however, happy to share a few other tidbits about herself: For starters, her real name is Alicia, not Jodie.
“My brothers and sisters named me Jodie before I was born,” she said. “When my mom got to the hospital she changed her mind, but they never accepted it, so no one has ever called me Alicia.”
Foster also revealed she is terrible about returning phone calls.
“I just hate to be on the phone,” she said. “If a call comes in on my machine, I'll write it down, but then I'll lose it. Even if it's somebody I like. I just have an aversion to being on the phone.”
And don't even get her started on shopping.
“I try never to do it,” she said. “I'll shop for food, but I won't shop for clothes. Except baby clothes, which I love.”
Of course there are things Foster likes to do.
“I speak French very well,” she said. In fact, as a senior in high school, Foster was chosen Valedictorian and delivered her entire speech in French.
“I can also twirl a basketball on every one of my fingers including the left (hand),” she said. “It's from being short — they never let me play.”
But Foster rarely has time for sports these days. She is already making the rounds to promote her next movie, “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys,” which opens in June. She also hopes to resume production on her next directorial project, “Flora Plum,” starring Claire Danes.
Despite such a busy schedule and the demands of motherhood, Foster insisted she has no plans to slow her career down any time soon.
“I am not one of those actors that needs to work 24 hours a day,” she said. “I get big breaks in between, so I don't need to ‘stop.’”
However, Foster wouldn't mind living her life without a little more anonymity.
“I don't think there is anything good about fame,” she said. “Tables in restaurants, I guess. But then again, why don't you just call ahead the day before.”
Sean Daly is president of Showtime Entertaimnet and is a regular contributor to US Weekly and the Toronto Star.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 28, 2002. Read the original PDF.