Monday, August 17, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 23
Life's drama has appeal for single-mother Foster
Actress reflects on movie career, new son Charles
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Jodie Foster,
the thinking person's actress, is
now the thinking baby's mother.
Its title: The Baby Dance.
The heir to this "mother lode"
is Charles Foster, who was born
July 20. One week before, in a
Hollywood touch, the mom-to-be
was promoting a Showtime
movie she had co-produced.
The film, which features Stockard Channing and Laura Dern, makes its debut Sunday on the cable channel. It is about parents and would-be parents who seem to get things wrong as much as right.
Channing and Peter Riegert are a high-powered professional couple who, unable to conceive, contract with hard-luck Wanda and AI (Dern and Richard Lineback) to adopt the baby Wanda is carrying and cannot afford to keep.
Written and directed by Jane Anderson and based on her play, the film pits jarringly different people against each other and, at times, against the baby's best interests. The simplest of wishes — to have a child — becomes the catalyst for dark humor and tragedy.
The drama appealed to Foster, 35, who does not like to keep things simple.
"I love the complicatedness of all the characters, how nobody's a hero or villain," she said. "I like movies about people, the things we do to each other and why we do them."
Foster's own decision to rear a child alone was not an unconsidered or uninformed step. She is one of four children raised by a single mother who had little money or family help. She has managed other life transitions, including her evolution from precocious child star (Taxi Driver, Bugsy Malone) to Yale scholar to Oscar-winning actress (The Accused, 1991's The Silence of the Lambs) to director (Little Man Tate).
Here is what Foster had to
Foster: Is the co-producer of a Showtime movie.
say about family, career, and what happens when the two combine.
Q: How would you describe your own childhood?
A: I think it was a happy childhood, but it was a complicated childhood. We're all very complicated people in my family. I know I didn't have the Ozzie and Harriet family, but I'm very happy for the childhood that I had. Much like the boy in Little Man Tate, part of what made me into a sensitive, perceptive person ... was that I did come from that place. I'm sure there are things that I've missed and parts of me that are completely neurotic, but who isn't?
Q: Can you envision what kind of parent you'll be?
A: Gosh, I really don't know. I think the best advice is really to try and be yourself and try to be as true to yourself as you possibly can and as honest with your kids as you possibly can. Beyond that, I've got all the books. And I'm a little older. I'm not a 19-year-old kid.
Q: How do you balance baby and career?
A: I am directing a film next spring-summer, '99, which seems like a nice amount of time (after the baby's birth). The nice thing about the movie business is you can bring your kids wherever you go. I'll just see as I go along. I mean, I've been working for 32 years, so I don't have this burning desire to act. And if I ever
had it, it's probably 15 years ago.
I got cured of it very quickly. ... I only like to make things, if I can help it, that move me. I don't need to go out and do some buddy cop comedy. I'd rather travel and learn new things.
Q: How would you feel if your child wanted to act?
A: There's a part of me that would want him to think twice about it. But at the same time, you can't control people. Just my luck, to get some show-bizzy kid. It's been a great life for me. I got to travel at a young age, I got to talk to grown-ups who would listen to me. I would have conversations about life with them. For me, it's been an amazing education. But I know that's not true for a lot of kids. I think the pitfalls are really big for a lot of kids. I don't know how I survived intact. It's a tough profession.
Q: How will you deal with the effect of your celebrity on your child's life?
A: That's really too bad. I don't know what to do about it. You just try to be as healthy as possible. I can't say being a celebrity is a great thing — there's nothing good about it besides the work. The work is terrific, and you meet people and have access to people you wouldn't have had otherwise. But the rest of it, the lack of anonymity, there's just nothing fun about it. It will just be another obstacle he (Charles) will have. I have to think about how to minimize the damage.
Q: Describe your career over the next 10 or 20 years.
A: I want to get better as a director. ... I love directing. I love thinking of the movie that way and everything that goes into it. The funny thing about it is that it's effortless for me, whereas acting actually requires a lot of effort from me because it's not my personality. I wish I was more of an extrovert and liked to do accents and jump on tables with a lamp shade on my head ... but it's just not who I am. I'm not that much of an exhibitionist.
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