BeatBoxBetty Interviews JODIE FOSTER about her role in PANIC ROOM!

Starting out as the little girl whose swimsuit was pulled down by a dog for those famous Coppertone ads, Jodie Foster has indeed come a long way.

After her controversial role as a preteen prostitute in Taxi Driver (1975) she became one of the most sought after young stars in Hollywood. Then after graduating magna cum laude from Yale University (she later received an honorary Doctorate), Jodie delivered her Oscar-winning performance in The Accused (1988) in which she played a rape victim seeking justice. Foster followed up with another Oscar for the 1991 fright flick The Silence of the Lambs and then went into directing with the drama, Little Man Tate (1991). She also directed 1995's Home for the Holidays, a comedy starring Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr..

But with all of her success behind the scenes, it's seeing Jodie in front of the camera that makes audiences hit the theaters. And now she's back on the big screen in the David Fincher (Seven) directed film PANIC ROOM. Trapped in her New York brownstone's hidden chamber that was built in the event of break-ins, Jodie plays a newly divorced mother who ends up playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse when three intruders decide to invade her home.

I caught up with Jodie recently to talk about her new film, motherhood and her ever-present problem with numbers. Here's what she had to say…

Jodie Foster spots intruders on the set of Panic Room

Photo - Columbia Pictures

BETTY: I just saw the film, and have to say that I was glad to see your character wasn't some passive freaked out woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown…
JODIE: I think what people - women in particular - get upset about is movies where women are portrayed as passive victims. They're also usually not the center of the stories - they're usually props. Children fall into that category as well. Children in movies are props. The child is abducted so that the main character can have an interesting thing to do, which is save the kid. And I think that is probably what people have problems with.

BETTY: You weren't able to make "The Game" with David Fincher. Is working with him something you looked forward to for awhile?
JODIE: Yeah, I tracked him down for "The Game" cause I was so interested in him as a director. I just really wanted to work with him. And we kept in touch after all these years. We really like each other a lot and I've always wanted to work with him. I know a lot of people that work with him. Like his first AD is my first AD. His casting person has cast a movie with me as well. So I kind of knew what was going on the set.

BETTY: What was it like for a director like yourself to be directed by another director?
JODIE: I think it's a good thing…especially for him - because he's such a technical director. It's really important for him to have actors working with him that are very experienced and that know how to accommodate the camera and who understand how films are made. He's not the kind of director who can work with a first time actor or second time actor… that would be a bad mix.

BETTY: You were pregnant during the filming of this right?
JODIE: Yeah.

BETTY: How far did you push your self? Did you think about it a lot?
JODIE: Yeah, there were a lot of things I couldn't do. Luckily, I have a stunt double who looks exactly like me. In fact, there's a scene in the trailer where she jumps into the panic room through the door and lands on a kind of a pillow right in front of the lens and you see her face for a couple of seconds and it's just not me. [Laughs]. And I had to flip, you know, go through the video tape a couple of times just saying "Is that me?" Did I do that?" And I realized it wasn't me. It's Jill."

BETTY: Does being a director yourself give you a different perspective?
JODIE: Yeah, I think so. I think that you're just more respectful of them in general. And I think you want to serve them more because you really understand how hard it is to make movies. Most importantly you know how films cut. So you know what the elements are that they need. And usually when a director gives you a note, he may give you acting notes, like the tone of a line or something...But mostly it's about accommodating cutting and accommodating his cinemagraphic style, and if you've been in a cutting room you know why that is.

BETTY: It seems like you've been in front of the camera your entire life. And now you're very selective in the roles that you choose. Do you have a strong criteria for the people you work with?
JODIE: Now more than ever. I really look forward to working with very experienced, interesting directors. Because just selfishly, I like to stand behind them and go, wow, why'd they do that? You know, I like to learn a lot from them. To me, that just keeps me going.

BETTY: Now that "Hannibal" has come and gone, have you reconsidered your decision to pass...
JODIE: Well you have to remember I was busy because I was shooting Flora Plum and Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. So I had two moves at the same time that Hannibal was shooting. So that's why I didn't do Hannibal.

BETTY: I just saw a very interesting computer presentation on the film's special effects and I noticed that your character was in her underwear…
JODIE: Isn't that funny? It wasn't in the original script and I don't know if it was a joke or if it was something about Nicole. I'm not sure.

BETTY: That's right. I forgot that Nicole Kidman was set to star in Panic Room until she injured herself. The computer character in this presentation had red hair too!
JODIE: And she was real tall! [Laughs]. That's one of the things they had to accommodate when I came on. I'm so much shorter than Nicole, that there are certain things like, you know, where the telephone was… They had to move the telephone [down] and do stuff.

Kristen Stewart and Jodie Foster in Panic Room

Photo - Columbia Pictures

BETTY: Was it tough just jumping in like that after Nicole was unable to go on?
JODIE: You know, I knew I was the right actress because I love that stuff and I'm really good at it. And there are a lot of things I'm not good at…

BETTY: Really? Like what?
JODIE: There are certain things I'm just not… like improvisation. I'm just bad at it. I don't know - you get me in a corner and you say, "Okay think of something." And I'm just like "ahhhhh." You know, I don't come up with great things. So I'm not a good quick-witted writer. But technical film making I really understand and like.

BETTY: Speaking of things you're good and bad at, how's motherhood going again the second time around with the new baby?
JODIE: It's going good. He's great.

BETTY: Does it affect your choices for films to work on?
JODIE: Yeah, I probably work less because I don't want to be constantly working. And I think I end up really just choosing movies that I love because it's going to take me away from them. And if I'm going to make a sacrifice and a commitment like that, I want to make sure that it's something that I'm very passionate about.

BETTY: Is it tough having two sons so close in age?
JODIE: Three years is supposed to be the perfect age range, so the good news is they're not both in diapers. And one of them can walk, which is good.

BETTY: Since you weren't in the sequel, did you watch "Hannibal" when it came out?
JODIE: Yes I did.

BETTY: What did you think of it?
JODIE: No, I won't comment. [Laughs].

BETTY: Being such a high profile celebrity, I'm wondering, have you ever entertained the thought of having your own panic room?
JODIE: No. No, it's just not me. I'm not particularly paranoid. And I think, by the way, the message in the movie is don't get a panic room. I think the film's message is that paranoia and anticipating disaster before it happens is a very bad idea. But what you really need to be is vigilant and to listen to your instincts before bad things happen to you. So when she walks into the house, there's something about it she doesn't like. And she doesn't like the fact that it's so big. She's being forced to make this decision out of pressure because somebody said, "Look you can get back at your husband!" So in some ways she got railroaded into this choice instinctually knowing it wasn't the right place for her. And if she had listened to that beforehand, she wouldn't have gotten into the mess in the first place.

BETTY: If you don't have a panic room, what is your favorite room in your house?
JODIE: My favorite room in my house is, well, I like my sons' room. I just like their room in the house - 'cause it's all painted, and each one of the little things that we painted is kind of meaningful to me.

BETTY: Did you paint if yourself?
JODIE: No I didn't, cause it would look bad.

BETTY: What validates the work for you? Do you get more validation out of directing or acting?
JODIE: Ah, definitely directing… I have to say my goal now is really more about directing than it is about acting.

BETTY: In this film, you have Kristen Stewart playing your daughter. Do you like working with children on set?
JODIE: I love working with kids. I always have. She's a great. We hung out. That's what we did. Never talked about the movie. Never talked about the characters. In between takes we'd talk about bands and stuff like that. I was lucky to be stuck with her. Really young actors work the same way that I work. That is they don't belabor it. All of the intellectual stuff [and research] they do ahead of time. And when it comes time to perform and somebody says action, you just do it. And then you talk about other stuff.

BETTY: Do you think you're a better actress or a better mom?
JODIE: I'm a much better mom than I am an actress. Well, I just think I'm more naturally very maternal and naturally a mom. I think as an actor, I have the personality of a director. I don't really have the personality of an actor. It's just not something that comes naturally to me. I do it and it's a skill that I have, but it's just not who I am.

BETTY: Do you find it's more challenging than you expected with a newborn?
JODIE: I knew it was challenging. But you know, now that I've had a toddler, newborns are like a piece of cake. I mean, you put them down and they don't move. They sleep. You can put them down and they don't crawl away. They don't fight you.

BETTY: I know you're tackling producing, directing and acting. There's one thing left -- writing. Are you interested in it?
JODIE: I always thought I'd end up being a writer. That's what I thought I'd do. And I really am just shocked. I'm shocked that that's not what I do. And it's always been, like my failure in my life. You know, there's some place in me that says, you know, I can't believe you just didn't end up writing and I guess I won't. It's more just a discipline problem where I just can't be in a room by myself and do a job that's for myself. The job I do I get to have like forty other people.

BETTY: Oh yeah, I can attest for that - writing is a very lonely craft.
JODIE: Yeah, it's just not my personality. It's funny.

BETTY: We now know what you're good at and what you're not so good at in acting. But in your real life, what are you really good at and what are you just hopeless at?
JODIE: I have a problem with numbers. Like, for whatever reason, I don't add things very well. It's not like I had a problem with addition in school but for some reason I get numbers crossed and I always remember times wrong. So I have to write everything down in a book because if you say to me, "I'll meet you at 9:00," I'll go, "Great!" And if somebody says to me, "What time are you meeting him?" I'll go, "9:30." [Laughs]. For whatever reason, I have a bad number thing. I don't know what it is. But I've learned now to cope with it. I always have to have a pencil and a paper and I have to write it down and put it in a pocket. That's my bad thing.

BETTY: And what are you really good at?
JODIE: Let's see. What am I good at? I can speak French very well. It's my only skill. It's the only thing I know how to do.

BETTY: Really? That's the only thing?
JODIE: That's it. I mean, I can twirl a basketball on every one of my fingers - including the left. Those are my two skills. It's from being short and always waiting - because they never let you play.

BETTY: I'm no psychic, but I think they'd let you play now. Thanks Jodie for taking the time to chat!
JODIE: Thank you!