Jodie Foster’s 10 Essential Roles, Ranked
Jodie Foster is an undisputed screen icon, but which of her many, many roles should you absolutely make sure to watch?
Foster’s first acting credit on IMDb is for an appearance on The Doris Day Show in 1969. What’s curious about that statistic is that it suggests that the actor was a presence in Old Hollywood before being an icon of New Hollywood, and an icon again in ‘90s and ‘00s Hollywood, while still being only the same age as people like Bob Odenkirk and Steve Carrell.
It helps, I guess, to have had your first job at six-years-old. What’s more remarkable, especially for that time, was that Foster was able to survive the system and translate that early success into a legendary career.
Whatever the case, we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy her work in plenty of wonderful films over those years, at least a couple of which could be regarded among the best American films of all time. I’ve narrowed this list of “essential” Foster roles down to ten, which means there wasn’t any space for her Oscar-nominated turn in Nell, Polanski’s late film Carnage, Neil Jordan’s The Brave One, or the actor’s bizarre directorial debut, The Beaver, to name just a few — but hey, after almost six decades in the business, there was always going to be some also-rans.
A good way to consider how young Foster was when she played Iris in Taxi Driver is to recognise some of the other films she appeared in that year. One of them was Bugsy Malone, Alan Parker’s musical in which a cast of kids cosplay as prohibition-era mobsters. The other was the first iteration of Freaky Friday, in which Foster played an even younger version of the role that Lindsay Lohan would again make famous in 2003.
In case you haven’t heard, the story is a body-swap comedy in which a frustrated mother and daughter secretly wish to change places, but then that wish comes true. If you love the new one, this might be right up your alley.
Bundle HD
Almost 20 years after Bugsy, Foster appeared as a sassy femme fatale in period garb once more, this time opposite Mel Gibson in the Mississippi poker film, Maverick — and if you like card-playing capers like Rounders or California Split, this is one you’ll probably come back to again and again.
The film was directed by Richard Donner (Superman) and features an incredible cast of both established legends (James Garner, James Coburn) and actors who would soon earn that same reputation (Graham Greene, Alfred Molina).
The actress took a few interesting career swings in the late ‘90s before coming back with a bang in the early ‘00s with a series of excellent mainstream thrillers. One of her finest was Spike Lee’s crime movie Inside Man — and if you like heist movies in general (think especially about Argo and The Town, but with that unique Spike flavour), you’re gonna love it.
The story centers around a hostage situation involving Clive Owen’s bank robber, Denzel Washington’s detective, and Foster’s power broker. Needless to say, she holds her own.
Another great film from that early 2000s run was the airline thriller Flightplan. This is the one where Foster plays a woman who loses her child at 30,000 feet but can’t seem to convince the crew and other passengers that it’s happened — imagine the claustrophobia of Panic Room mixed with the (potential?) gaslighting of Shutter Island and you’ll have some inkling of the mood.
Directed by Robert Schwentke, the film is a pure Hitchcockian nailbiter that managed to tap into the lingering anxieties of 9/11 and clean up at the box-office.
Bundle HD
Having stepped away from the limelight a bit after playing the villain in Elysium, Foster has enjoyed a bit of a lowkey comeback in recent years. Her performance in The Mauritanian was nominated for a Golden Globe; her performance in NYAD for an Oscar; but her best recent role was undoubtedly in the fourth incarnation of True Detective — a series that blended the original show’s look and feel with the arctic setting (and perhaps the sci-fi possibilities) of The Thing.
No points for guessing that Foster plays a foul-mouthed, no-nonsense detective — a role that won her her first Emmy.
Foster’s first great movie of the 21st century could hardly have been more ‘00s-coded. Panic Room is an air-tight thriller directed by the great David Fincher (think Zodiac, Gone Girl) and co-starring a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart in the role of Foster’s character’s daughter. As it turns out, they make a great double act.
As the title suggests, the film largely takes place in the safe room of a wealthy woman’s new apartment, where she’s forced to hold up with her diabetic daughter (Stewart) when three men break in to rob them.
The Accused is not the kind of film that Hollywood makes anymore, and perhaps for good reason. It did, however, give Foster a role that was precisely tuned to her early talent for playing women who find great reserves of strength in even the most traumatic circumstances. The performance won Foster her first Academy Award in a category that contained Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons), Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist) and Meryl Streep (Evil Angels). Not bad.
We should note that even though the film is not gratuitous, it does center around an act of sexual assault — so if that’s something you’d rather skip then it may be better to try another film on this list.
Given its starry cast, Robert Zemeckis’ direction, and a $90 million budget, it’s remarkable how weird Contact is, especially looking back on it now — and I mean that in the best way possible. This is a movie that blends the fun of an odd couple romance (think Romancing the Stone) with some pretty hard sci-fi ideas (think Arrival). I wasn’t surprised to learn that the crew would often spend their evenings watching 2001: A Space Odyssey for inspiration.
If you are a fan of Carl Sagan — who wrote the book, narrated the opening, and stayed involved with the film’s production into the final months of his life — and the kind of sci-fi that puts the emphasis on the “sci”, this is one call you’ll want to answer.
Before anyone feels irked about Taxi Driver only coming second on this list, it’s important to remember that Foster really doesn’t have a huge amount of screentime in the film. Nevertheless, her performance here as Iris, an underage sex worker who Robert De Niro feels duty bound to save, is beyond iconic.
The film itself is one of Scorsese’s greatest masterpieces, and if you like his work from that period (think Mean Streets and Raging Bull), you probably don’t need reminding that it’s one to watch. The performance earned Foster her first nomination at the Academy Awards — where she eventually lost out to Beatrice Straight (for her micro role in Network) in a tough category which also contained Piper Laurie’s excellent work in Carrie.
It’s surprisingly rare when an actor’s best role and performance also comes in their most critically-acclaimed, financially-successful, highly-awarded and most beloved film. For Foster’s performance in The Silence of the Lambs, all of those things are true. Jonathan Demme’s classic is not only one of the best crime thrillers ever made (and if you like Fincher’s Zodiac and Se7en, you’re gonna love it), it made a whopping $272 million (14 times its budget) at the box-office and went on to win the coveted “big five” at the Oscars.
Of course, Foster was perfectly cast as Clarice Starling, a green-around-the-gills FBI agent trying to navigate the boys club culture of the agency while also going toe-to-toe not only with the intellect of Hannibal Lecter but also Anthony Hopkins’ own towering performance. What a film.
