Hollywood actress Jodie Foster asks her followers to pray for her at this point in her life, implying that she may perhaps lose it.
The director of Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme, has acknowledged that he was very hesitant to cast Jodie Foster in the character of Clarice Starling, which went on to win the actress a second Oscar.
In an interview with fellow director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) that was recorded live at the Austin Film Festival last year and has since been posted to YouTube, Demme disclosed that he had intended to cast Laura Dern, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Meg Ryan as the young FBI agent before Foster.
Demme recalls telling the movie’s producers during the conversation, “You know, I do not think Jodie Foster would be good in this part.” She really is a Californian. Her Boston accent in 1988’s The Accused did not seem real to me. She was “acting” everywhere, and I was not impressed.
Pfeiffer was reportedly “worried about the darkness of the play,” so Demme gave her the job first. Ryan was then considered, but Demme claimed Ryan was “somewhat upset” by the offer. The film’s producers refused his request to cast Dern because they saw her as “a relative unknown.”
Following her Oscar-winning performance in 1988’s The Accused, which left Demme disappointed, Foster had shown a significant interest in the role and had met with Demme twice to discuss it. The producers of the film were eager to employ her. In the end, the director offered Foster the part, bowing to the producers’ requests. “And see what transpired,” Demme said. “I was utterly enamored with her… Strong Heart Productions is the name I gave our production firm in honor of Jodie’s character.
