We often find ourselves resonating with characters who reflect parts of ourselves we cannot quite understand or articulate, allowing us to feel seen in a way we haven’t experienced before. Cinema is one of the few ways we can find and discover ourselves, with certain stories helping us understand our own perspective and experience of the world, while also reconnecting us with a wider outlook that enriches our sense of compassion for lives completely different to our own.
However, when making movies, many actors are drawn to characters who are completely different from their true selves. It’s a chance to live in someone else’s skin and experience a polar opposite way of the viewing the world, whether it be through Margot Robbie’s affinity for playing extremely extroverted and outrageous characters (despite describing herself as being very introverted) or Jesse Eisenberg’s strange talents for playing assholes.
But sometimes, actors find themselves playing characters who unexpectedly reflect themselves, finding catharsis through the challenge of portraying someone who perhaps mirrors a part of themselves they dislike or hadn’t quite noticed. It was because of this that Jodie Foster had a particularly profound experience while shooting one film, describing her character as the one she has most resonated with.
Robert Zemeckis is an icon of the ’80s and ’90s, becoming known for his feel-good all-American style after directing cult classics like Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, and Death Becomes Her. Each one has become ingrained in the public consciousness for its nostalgic qualities and sweeping storylines, with just one film that sticks out for being a little different in its tone.
Directed in 1997, Contact follows a radio astronomer who picks up the first extraterrestrial signal sent to Earth, struggling to decode the message and confront her own belief system. Alongside Matthew McConaughey, it became an instant sci-fi classic and inadvertently inspired later films like Interstellar and Arrival, remaining a pivotal moment in the evolution of the genre.
But for Foster, she didn’t just connect with the story as her character. She also found herself seeing another side to herself through her portrayal of Ellie Arroway. When discussing this, Foster said, “I think, more than any character that I’ve ever played, Ellie Arroway is the most like me or at least the most like how I think I should be seen — how I see myself or something. She is as deep emotionally as she is prodigious intellectually, and that has caused her to live this kind of solitary life. I wouldn’t call it lonely so much as I would call it solitary. You know, it’s sort of deliciously lonely”.
The experience of working in the film business does seem like an isolating one, especially for someone who marches to the beat of their own drum in the way that Foster does. It’s hard to stay authentic to yourself in an industry that constantly demands you to change and be amenable to the demands of the public, but Foster has done so and remained true to the stories that most inspire her, even if it can be a solitary life.
