You’re telling me that there is a fourth season of the HBO gold that is True Detective? And you’re also telling me that Jodie Foster will be starring in it, too? Well, hot damn, we’re here and ready for it! We couldn’t be more stoked about the upcoming installment of Nic Pizzalatto‘s gritty psychological crime thriller, and the fact that Ms. Foster will lead it is the very sweet cherry on top. Foster will play Detective Liz Danvers alongside Detective Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). If, for some reason, you’re wondering if the decorated, two-time Oscar winner will be a good fit for the celebrated anthology, then let us provide you with some reference points that prove she will be just fine in the upcoming season entitled, True Detective: Night Country that is set in the Alaskan hinterlands and headed up by Barry Jenkins and Issa Lopez.
Jodie Foster Is No Stranger To Dark Psychological Films
Jodie Foster has seen and done it all in the film industry. As a 13-year-old, she was catapulted into stardom as a young sex worker in one of the most disturbing but celebrated films of the 20th century — Taxi Driver. No one, including the young actress, knew that she was starring in a film that would define the decade of the 1970s. Nor did she know she was working with one of the finest directors of the modern era, Martin Scorsese. Her exposure to the dark and seedy underbelly of human existence came early in her career.
Remarkably, Foster was able to not get caught up in the acclaim of child fame and parlay the star turn into a career that is still churning out gripping characters some 50 years later. In that half-century, Foster has displayed the kind of versatility and commitment to roles that are reserved for Hollywood royalty. 12 years later, she was awarded the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Sarah Tobias in another distressing film, The Accused. Her portrayal of a young woman who takes legal action against the scumbags that raped her is one of the most important performances of the 20th century and remains one of the finest of Foster’s illustrious career.
‘Silence of the Lambs’ Already Proved She Can Play a Detective Well
Silence of the Lambs became the new gold standard for ominous psychological thrillers upon its release in 1991. Foster starred as green FBI Agent Clarice Starling and her quid pro quo, cat-and-mouse exchanges with Anthony Hopkins have been written about ad infinitum. She’s one of the two central figures in the film that would establish the tropes and norms of characters that represent the true darkness of a human soul and the nefarious psychopathy — which are at the heart of Pizzalatto’s demonically disturbing villains in True Detective. Give Pizzalatto high marks for developing several richly layered antagonists, but he, along with everyone else, is standing on the shoulders of the characters in Silence of the Lambs. Foster was a pioneer and one of the first witnesses to the disturbed mind as we know it in pop culture and entertainment today. So, we’re going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she won’t be fazed by whatever showrunners throw at her in Night Country.
‘The Brave One’ Showed How Dark Jodie Foster Can Go
In 2007, Foster showed that she was still primed to immerse herself in the darkness of a psychologically tormented soul when she starred in The Brave One opposite Terrance Howard. It is a movie that may have flown under the radar for some, but it is further proof that she is still eager and able to confront the genre. Erica Bain (Foster) is on the verge of a nervous breakdown after her fiancé is killed in front of her by a group of men during a walk through Central Park. Her only coping mechanism is a raging hunger to seek vengeance for the death of the love of her life. She becomes a vigilante and takes on the darkest part of her own humanity to save herself from the torturous trappings of an unnerved and idle mind. If she brings even half of the intensity and tension that she brought to her role in this film to True Detective, it will be a very compelling season.
‘Hotel Artemis’ Sees Foster in Total Control
As recently as 2018, Foster headed up an all-star ensemble cast in the hardscrabble thriller Hotel Artemis. In this Drew Pearce-directed apocalyptic film set in the near future, she plays an agoraphobic nurse who is in complete control inside a hotel for criminals on the run from the law. Known as “The Nurse,” spots in her hotel are in high demand when riots break out in the Los Angeles area and scores of wounded criminals are seeking asylum for a variety of reasons. Foster runs Hotel Artemis with an iron fist and isn’t afraid to mix it up with the likes of Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, and the timeless Jeff Goldblum in a part that requires both toughness and the vulnerability of a woman struggling with emotional demons.
True Detective is known for delving deep into the rich and troubled background of all the cops that it features, and we are looking forward to what kind of backstory Jenkins and Lopez have in store for Foster in the role of Danvers. The setting for Night Country is unlike anything we’ve seen before as they move from previous locations in Louisiana, California, and Arkansas and take on the snowy Alaskan climate where all manner of bad things can happen and no one would be around to hear you scream. We envision the Coen Brothers’Fargo meeting David Fincher‘s Se7en-type atmosphere and know that the decorated acting veteran will knock it out of the park in one of HBO’s flagship original series.
True Detective is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
