How did Jodie Foster typecast herself by being so good at her job?
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(Credit: HBO)
Jodie Foster has portrayed a wide range of characters on screen. She captured hearts as the precocious teen in Freaky Friday and stunned audiences with her role in Taxi Driver. In The Silence of the Lambs and Panic Room, she demonstrated a steely resolve paired with human vulnerability, while films like The Accused and Nell showcased her emotional depth. Audiences have even swooned over her in Sommersby. However, one thing Foster has seldom been is comedic—a fact that always left the actor with a niggling sense of frustration.
While promoting the family adventure film Nim’s Island, Foster revealed that she needed to work hard in order to convince people she could portray the neurotic and agoraphobic author Alexandra Rover. The challenge stemmed from Rover’s role as the film’s comic relief, and the studio initially doubted whether Foster could generate the necessary laughs.
The miffed star revealed: “I don’t know why I don’t do it more often, except that people don’t want me for comedies. I think that good comedies are really hard to write, but it’s fun to explore the lighter part of your personality, but I had to really knock down some doors in order to get this.”
She added, “The directors were all for me, but I think the studio was like, ‘Oh, really? Jodie Foster in comedy?!’”
To Foster’s credit, she understood why studio executives thought that way. People are often conditioned to not think beyond the familiar—if someone excels in one area, it’s easy to assume that’s their sole strength. It’s a frustrating but natural tendency of the human brain. In Foster’s case, her reputation as a dramatic actor was so firmly established that it inadvertently led to her being typecast. Ironically, her own excellence in drama had limited her opportunities to explore other genres, such as comedy.
“I understand and probably would make that decision too,” admitted Foster, “But sometimes though, when an actor is really tenacious because they know that it speaks to them, you always have to be careful. Because you know that’s going to be the person you end up with, because when all the chips fall down, that’s the person that’s still standing going, ‘I’ll do it! I’ll do it!’”
In the end, Nim’s Island didn’t fare well with critics, and Foster’s performance was met with harsh criticism, with many deeming it a low point in her career. However, since this foray into family comedy, Foster has managed to weave more humour into her roles, albeit mostly in the form of dark comedy. Roman Polanski’s Carnage, a biting comedy of errors co-starring Kate Winslet, John C Reilly, and Christoph Waltz, is an example, though it didn’t receive universal acclaim. More successfully, Foster’s role as the sarcastic and tough Alaskan cop Liz Danvers in True Detective: Night Country allowed her to fully embrace a comedic edge, giving the talented actress room to showcase her wit in a sharply cynical yet (mostly) amusing way.
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