Jodie Foster is a great actor and has also forged a solid career as a filmmaker, too, but that doesn’t mean she’s immune from making mistakes. In fact, Foster has admitted she has a big regret about one decision from her Thanksgiving movie, Home for the Holidays.
Let’s be honest, when you think of Jodie Foster, you think of her role in one of the best movies of the ’90s, The Silence of the Lambs. But, today of all days, we’re thinking about the brilliant Thanksgiving movie she gave us. Seems she can’t stop thinking about Home for the Holidays, either, though Foster wishes she did something differently.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Foster revealed how she would change the ‘90s movie now. “Nobody eats in the dinner scene, which was crazy,” she said. “Now, looking back and being 58 years old instead of 30, I wish I could smack myself a little bit and go, ‘Wait a minute! Why didn’t we get any shots of the dining room? Of mouths just eating the awful pieces of stuffing and turkey and things like that?'”
Foster did have a reason for making that call back in 1995, though. “It was something that I insisted on because I had this idea that the only Thanksgiving dinner we would see eaten would be the one that was in the kitchen between Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. To me, that was sort of important,” Foster added.
That more private scene between Claudia (Hunter) and Tommy (Downey Jr.) makes sense, given the siblings have always had a special bond, and this gives them a chance to escape the chaos and enjoy a rather cute moment together. It’s a pivotal scene in exploring their relationship and in showing us how messy the family is.
Still, while that creative decision felt right at the time, Foster said, “If there’s one thing I would revisit about the film, I think it was that I wish that I hadn’t been so stuck in an idea and maybe gotten footage of people eating all those turkeys.” I mean, yeah, look at that spread. How could you not want to see everyone digging in??
But I’m not about to claim that I’ve not been guilty of losing sight of the bigger picture once I get an idea in my head. We all do it, whether it be a journalist second-guessing their writing or one of the best directors regretting decisions they did or didn’t make while filming a classic comedy movie. Me and Jodie Foster are so alike, who knew?
If you’re watching Home for the Holidays to celebrate Thanksgiving, you’ll probably develop an appetite for watching more Robert Downey Jr. so we’ve got a breakdown of the Iron Man cast and a list of the Marvel movies in order for you. For more from Foster, check out our guide to the True Detective season 4 release date. Or, if you just like seeing things getting carved up, you’re going to love new movies like Deadpool 3.