Jodie Foster in “Flightplan”©Touchstone Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

“Flightplan” almost was a very different movie.

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“It was meant for a man to be an action star,” Brian Grazer, who produced “Flightplan,” told Page Six at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of “Genius: Picasso” at the BMCC theater on Friday. “I just said I’m doing it with Jodie Foster and then I put her in ‘Inside Man’ with Denzel [Washington].

“I like girl power movies.”

Grazer, who executive produces NatGeo’s “Genius,” said his penchant for “girl power movies” played a role in choosing Mary Shelley for the third season of the scripted series. (Season one told the story of Albert Einstein, portrayed by Geoffrey Rush, and season two followed Pablo Picasso, played by Antonio Banderas).

“It was time,” Grazer said. “It was definitely the right time.

“She was a woman that was very strong, not passive in any way at all and fought for important rights at that time,” he continued. “She’s inarguably a genius.”