Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Jodie Foster is set to star in a French movie, “Vie Privée,” the next directorial effort of Rebecca Zlotowski.
The movie, which also stars Daniel Auteuil (“La belle epoque”) and Virginie Efira (“Other People’s Children”), is penned by Zlotowski, Anne Berest, a well-known French novelist and screenwriter (“Happening”), alongside Gaëlle Macé (“Little Jaffna”). Zlotowski and Macé previously collaborated on the script of “Grand Central.”
Zlotowski’s regular producer, Frederic Jouve at Paris-based Les Films Velvet is producing.
Foster, who was last seen in “True Detective: Night Country,” picks her roles very selectively. Her pairing with Zlotowski seems like an ideal match as they share a similar sensibility and are both interested in dramas portraying multi-faceted characters, many of which are female protagonists.
Besides “Other People’s Children,” Zlotowski is best known for directing “Une fille facile” (Cannes’ Directors Fortnight 2019), “Grand Central” (Cannes’ Un Certain Regard 2013) and “Belle Epine” (Cannes’ Critics Week in 2010) with Lea Seydoux, and “Planetarium” (Venice 2016) starring Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp.
Vie Privée” isn’t Foster’s first French-language role. She made her French acting debut at the age of 14 in a small film “Fleur Bleu,” and notably worked with Claude Chabrol for the 1984 movie “The Blood of Others.” In an interview that year, Chabrol praised Foster for being “extremely bright” and for “her knowledge of the technical aspects of filmmaking is perfectly stunning.” She also starred in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement” in 2004.
Foster is notoriously perfectly fluent in French. On several occasions, Foster paid tribute to her mother who was a francophile and initiated her to New Wave cinema. Foster has even cited Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” and Louis Malle’s “Murmur of the Heart” as the French movies that have marked her the most.
Beloved in France, Foster delivered a moving speech at the commemoration for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from German troops this year in August, alongside France’s President Emmanuel Macron. She also presided over the Cesar Awards in 2011 and received an Honorary Palme at Cannes in 2021.
