...with a German newspaper - roughly translated by me & google
I worry my whole lifetime
Mrs. Foster, for the leading role in your movie, "The Beaver" you've hired your colleague Mel Gibson. After his aggressive outbursts, nobody would have bet that he would get another chance in Hollywood. So all the bad publicity left you cold?
All I can say is: 17 years ago, when I was filming "Maverick" with him, it was the best working relationship of my entire career. Womething I've never experienced with any other colleague. Therefore, we also tried years to find a common project, and only then it worked.
Do you think the public distinguishes between the private choleric man Gibson and the actor on the screen?
I do not know. I am not in a position to judge such a thing. I think the film should speak for itself and that Mel shows a wonderful performance. I know it sounds crazy, but its emotional ballast was even helpful.
In what way?
The film shows a man who is struggling with his own demons, trying to change but find himself in a dead end road - that's a fatal situation. And who could be better to play this person?
At least it's not like raising anyones hope with this film. The message: therapy is futile, accept the tragedy of life.
Yes, this is one of the messages. There is no treatment against the seriousness of life, against its injustices. Terrible things happen even now. People will suffer and die. Not everything will be okay. But there is one consolation: You're not alone with it. For all others it's the same thing. This is the bright light with which you can get through it all.
The depressive main character in your new film "The Beaver" finds solace in his relationship with an imaginary friend. Normally, children clinging to such fantasy figures. Did you have such a friend as a child?
No, I did not have imaginary friends. Never. Although I was a very lonely child. I spent a lot of time to talk to myself and cope with the fact that no one understood me.
Why did you feel so lonely?
The loneliness was already in me before I was born. In part, this was probably because I was the youngest child in the family and thus had a special position. And I was like a wunderkind.
What do you mean?
I was not particularly great in math, but one thing I mastered very well, I was able to understand the feelings of adults. At a depth at which a child should not be capable.
Blessing or curse?
Both. For I have felt responsible for any problems that my mother went through. My creativity was my only valve. And I enjoyed it very well to lead this creative insular existence that no one understood. In a certain way it still is. If I'm lying in a pool of artificial blood at three o'clock in the morning, then no one can understand what I feel. And the only way to share that with other people, is to communicate my feelings through my acting. Bringing something to the screen is the only treatment for such loneliness.
You're not so often in front of a camera. You once said: "I am better in being a mother than being an actress."
The times when I rushed from one film to another, sure are over - if only for the sake of my two children. They're much more important for me. Usually I'm just acting when I get the feeling that I can learn something from the director for my own work as a director - as recently with Roman Polanski. But to come back to this quote: To be a mother, is more creative than anything else. It's stressing your entire personality. To your children's sake you're thinking about everything you say and do, all day long. The acting, however, is not a natural part of my person. As a child I never dreamed of it as a job. If I don't work, then I don't fool or wear flashy clothes. I am very stoic and controlled head, my feelings never show to the outside.
Then you actually had to resist when your mother let you play in commercials at the age of three
I probably would have. But I was not very rebellious as a child.
Once at a shooting you even got chilblains, because you had no thick socks. However, you didn't rebel.
Like I said, I was a stoic, then more than now. I didn't know I could say "no". I thought I have to follow the instructions of the director. And if I didn't do that, then I would be a loser and no one would tell me. Moreover, this was my job. But just because I was a reserved, introverted child, so the acting was good for me. So I was able to express myself. Without this job I certainly would have been crazy.
It sounds as if you were at least somewhat crazy.
I am a relatively balanced and appropriate person. But there are some side effects that are not quite so normal. I share my life in small areas, and I freak out when these areas overlap. That means, for example, that I now that I give interviews, can not comfortably go for dinner. Because one is work and the other is private pleasure. It does not match.
But you never really freaked out in your life.
No, because I've always taken responsibility. Even in my time in college, where I could have ran riot, I made five films. I supported my family, I paid taxes, had obligations. There was never a carefree phase in my life.
What is it you worry about all the time?
I do a lot of worry - especially about my sons. But I'm not really a nervous person. I like to fly or trying new dishes. Okay, I'm not thrilled by snakes. And I hate shopping. This began in my childhood when my mother dragged me into some shops. I grabbed a book and then always sat down to read. Now I have someone do it for me. Except children's clothing, that is no problem. And I also like record and book stores.
Have you ever thought about the direction of your career if you've been never in front of a camera?
Maybe I would have become a professor or a lawyer - or writer, because I love working with words. But I am very happy that I can be part of the film world - I just love it with all my heart. And especially I like the mystery of acting.
Can you solve the mystery for us?
You are about the choreographer and dancer at the same time. First of all you have to plan the whole architecture of a scene: What you say and how you move, and why you do it. Then someone says "Action", and you have to do it, but the realization of this plan is a totally different experience. On the one hand, you live within and spontaneously in this moment, as if you were that person, on the other hand, you hit the right mark, and you know the whole drama and movement for you and your partner. Since running so many conscious and unconscious processes simultaneously. That is why I admire actors, because I do not know how they manage that.
Doesn't analyzing these processes during work all the time detain you from your instictive acting?
I know I can be too intellectual. Sometimes I have to consciously overcome in order to concentrate on the pure representation. Strictly speaking, this is a challenge for each film. On the other hand - what does "instinctive play" mean? Does that mean you sleep before your performance, then someone wakes you up, and you do what just comes to your mind? Making films is not like that. You have to approach from two sides on the matter, rational and irrational. Those who rely solely on their instincts struggle.
Is such an attitude the reason that you are almost 30 [sic!] years after "Taxi Driver" still one of Hollywood's top stars?
The reason is that I always thought long term. Therefore, I deliberately went for and against certain films. The may not have been so spectacular, I have earned less and shot less than some colleagues, but I just wanted to make films that endure.
What offers have you turned down?
Put it this way: I can not play a weak women. Therefore, you have never considered myself as the beautiful starlet-girlfriend of Tom Cruise.
Such roles have been offered to you?
Occasionally, but not too often. I wasn't considered the type of long-legged beauty queen. And that was a real blessing.
Is your own directorial work also a way to secure this long career?
It's definitely something I prefer to acting now. I have to ask me constantly "Do I find my feelings or not?" I can express myself personally much stronger and fuller. I have already more the personality of a director than an actor. I have already noticed that at the age of six.
How?
I appeared in a television series, and one of the leading actors on the day directing. I did not know then that actor should such a thing. And I thought: "I want to do it." From then on, I watched to see how scenes are cut, which lenses you take on certain shots and so on. Many actors do not know this, because for them it takes the all the secrecy. They want to feel more like on stage to relive those moments quite pure and natural. But the more I am technically versed, the happier I am
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