Jodie Foster in “The Mauritanian.”Photo: Graham Bartholomew / STXfilms
During an acting career stretching back to her first commercials at age 3, it seems like Jodie Foster has done everything — drama, thrillers, Westerns, horror, sci-fi, and of course the two iconic films for which she received Academy Awards, “The Accused” and “The Silence of the Lambs.” Yet, in a recent interview with The Chronicle in advance of the 78th annual Golden Globe Awards to discuss her latest role as tenacious defense attorney Nancy Hollander in “The Mauritanian,” Foster admitted that she’s mostly managed to avoid roles based on real-life people and political movies.

“The Mauritanian,” however, directed by Kevin Macdonald (“One Day in September” and “Life in a Day 2020”), is both. It’s a based-on-true-events drama with a politically charged cautionary message about the need to adhere to the rule of law, even after a national tragedy like 9/11.

Foster said the last time she played a character based on a real-life person was more than 20 years ago for “Anna and the King,” but “she was someone who had died about 250 years ago.”

The New Mexico lawyer defended Mohamedou Ould Slahi (played by French-Algerian actor and Golden Globe nominee Tahar Rahim), who spent 14 years imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay as a suspected terrorist despite never being charged with a crime. Hollander took on Slahi’s case assuming he was guilty but determined regardless to provide him with his civil right to a legal defense. Slahi’s Kafkaesque story is one of the most disturbing to emerge from Gitmo, and it got worldwide attention when he published the heavily redacted best-selling memoir “Guantánamo Diary” in 2015.

Foster, who won at the Globes on Sunday, Feb. 28 for her performance,  spoke about why she hopes “The Mauritanian” is that rare “political movie that’s emotionally connected and does justice to an extraordinary person.”
Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster in “The Mauritanian.”Photo: Graham Bartholomew / STXfilms
Q: At this point in your career, you are very selective about the roles you commit to. Why did playing lawyer Nancy Hollander and helping to tell Mohamedou Slahi’s story feel right to you?

A: I feel like I have been selective for a long time. Working on so many movies as a kid I wasn’t, but after 55 years I feel like I can just do the ones that feel meaningful in the right way. It’s a privilege to be able to say I only want to make films that I really care about.

I recognized early on it really was important for (“The Mauritanian”) to be Mohamedou’s story. To prioritize that, it meant getting rid of a lot of the Nancy stuff. It didn’t matter, for instance, whether she was married or had children. None of that was important unless it served Mohamedou’s story.

Q: Did avoiding those personal details make it easier for you to embrace playing a real person? It’s something you haven’t done often, and I’m curious if that’s been a conscious choice?

A: Yeah, it’s only the second time I have. One reason is that I don’t like the biopic form. I find it really reductive and boring. I’m also somebody who just really loves fiction. I don’t like the didactic nature of some nonfiction. I don’t really want to know all those facts, I just want to know the psychological reasons people do what they do.
Tahar Rahim in “The Mauritanian.” Rahim was nominated for a Golden Globe for for best actor in a motion picture drama.Photo: Graham Bartholomew / STXfilms
Q: Tahar Rahim’s performance as Slahi is so powerful in conveying the pain and also the resilience of someone who was tortured and held without charge for so many years. What was it like working together?

A: He really is the perfect actor to play this, and it was such an honor to be in that room. I mean, Shailene (Woodley, who plays Hollander’s legal associate) and I just kept pushing each other and saying, “Do you believe how great this is?” It’s so satisfying to hold space for his performance, to know that you are there for one purpose, which is to make sure that Tahar has the atmosphere that he needs in order to give the performance of his life.
Shailene Woodley (left) and Jodie Foster in “The Mauritanian.”Photo: Graham Bartholomew / STXfilms
Q: We get to see the real Mohamedou, who is so vibrant, at the end of the movie. What was it like meeting him?

A: He’s somebody you just want to put your arms around and spend a lot of time with. He’s funny. He loves to tease. He never stops talking. He’s a very open person, and yet he’s complicated. There is a damaged side to him, and sometimes if he’s forced to go back into the past and talk about his life, you can see it’s painful. After almost 15 years in prison, now he can’t leave Mauritania. His life has been restricted to a tiny grain of sand. He speaks so many languages and was a computer genius who got a scholarship to study in Germany. He had a lot of potential and has had to make peace with the fact that that’s all gone for him now.

Q: Do you hope “The Mauritanian” encourages people to think more critically about the post-9/11 period and the legal rights people were denied in the name of the War on Terror? 

A: I hope so. Twenty years is a good amount of time to be able to look back on our dark past. Whether it’s Jim Crow after Reconstruction or Japanese American internment camps or the Trail of Tears, we have to find a way to look back and go through the painful process of repair and not wait 150 years until it’s systemic. We can ask, “What mistakes did we make, and how can we do better?” I think the Islamophobia that captivated the United States, while it may be very human and understandable based on the terror we were exposed to, was a prejudice that came out of fear. It’s contrary to our beliefs, our Constitution and the foundation of our laws.

Q: Do you think movies are a good way to raise awareness and encourage social change? You’ve said before you’re not a fan of political movies.

A: The reason I’ve never made any is that I think they fall into the same category as biopics, where they’re often too didactic and more interested in factual details instead of seeing how a character changes. There are a few that I’ve loved, like “Salvador,” but this was the first time I’d read a political story that I felt really was a good narrative, and to me that’s where you can make powerful changes, when the movie touches people emotionally in ways that are complex.