Showbiz since you were five, and someone tried to assassinate the president to impress you when you were a teenager. Why shouldn’t she want a normal life?
And she remains working in the competitive profession she has been trained to do since childhood and is by all accounts a talented, professional, good-natured, decent person. She should be proud of herself.
Basically I think it was a silly speech for an audience of millions of T.V. viewers and a fine speech for a few hundred colleagues and friends gathered in the room.
She’s been in showbiz since she was a child. She really did know just about everybody in the room- and for those she didn’t know personally, they were still people she recognized as colleagues, people who had a more inside view of what it is like for a person to live as a celebrity balancing a public life with a private life.
So, the apparent conflict of addressing privacy while also speaking about her personal life can be put into the perspective that she’s saying to a bunch of her peeps “Hellz! amirite???” The whole coming out / not coming out / already came out thing wasn’t meant to address her sexuality- that hasn’t been any kind of a mystery to any of the people she was addressing. She was already out. What she hasn’t done is to provide a neat clean direct sound bite for the convenience of every entertainment news source that wants to run a direct unambiguous “Jodie Foster Comes Out of the Closet” story. So, again: “Hellz! amirite???” to her peeps.
If it was a nontelevised event and I witnessed the speech as a waiter working the room, I would have smiled and ejoyed my little glimpse of the inside- knowing that it’s not about me.
Everything that was weird about that speech was weird because it was televised. It was televised because we want as much celebutainment as can be sucked out of Hollywood- and we want it to be about us. When Jodie Foster receives her Lifetime Achievement Award, we don’t want it to be a moment she shares with her friends and colleagues- we want it to be a moment she shares with us, we want her to address the millions of us watching on T.V.
Everyone presenting and everyone accepting an award at this event knows it is televised. Therefore, they can make the choice to address the television audience. Addressing the television audience is definitely much better T.V. but it doesn’t allow an opportunity to simply enjoy an evening of celebration with friends and colleagues- as a performer, once you make the choice to be “on” you’re on. So, everyone making a speech makes a choice. Speak to the television audience, speak to the people in the room, or find some point on the continuum between the two in order to try to speak to all.
Jodie Foster chose to address her friends and colleagues in the room. It made for lousy television, but what do I care? I didn’t need it to be about me.
I’ve enjoyed her in just about everything I’ve seen her do, as both an actor and a director. That speech Sunday night was a rambling, nervous-energy mish-mash of thoughts and emotions that was more confessional than award recipient ‘thank you’ speech. She came across as a little bit psycho. Clearly she didn’t have anyone vet her prepared remarks, and she should have.
I want a new talking stick. But not so loud, in fact, it should be a super quiet talking stick, one that maybe only dogs can hear. And less shiny, this one has too much sparkle. Fewer Sparkles!!!
:smack: You’re right! She should have had her remarks vetted! Now she’ll never be Secretary of the Interior!
First she’s out of the closet, and now she’s out of the Cabinet!!!
You can see Foster, almost unrecognizable and speaking perfect French, in the 2004 film A Very Long Engagement.
I do think it a bit odd to request privacy on camera in front of millions around the world, but at least she didn’t call a press conference to request privacy from press intrusion like Victoria Beckham once did.
But hey, happy that Foster is “out” and cool with it. Otherwise - don’t really care.
It did have a lot of nervous energy, it seemed to me, but the thing that threw me off was that there were so many “cappers”. I thought numerous times “woah, strong emotional line to end the speech on”, then she kept going.
I love Jodie Foster as an actress. But that speech was a mess. I felt like I was being chastised, and I’m still not sure what for. She came off as very smug.
But everyone in the room was bawling, so I guess you had to be there.
It was amazing.
I could not make heads or tails of it though.
The thing is, this was a lifetime achievement award. She had to know ahead of time that she was getting it. It’s not like there are a few other contestants that are going “Oh, I didn’t win. Well, I’ll just be happy for her. I didn’t have a speech ready either. Maybe I’ll get an award for my next lifetime.”
She should have been prepared.
If you were ever wondering what it would be like if you ran into Jodie Foster in a bar after a big breakup and she’s had a few, that speech should pretty much give you an idea what it’d be like.
If they can’t get the magnificent Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to host next year, I hope they consider Jodie Foster and Clint Eastwood.
Words to live by, dear heart. Words to thrive by.
As in with a lot of people comming out, the people they’re coming out to people who probably already had a suspicion of it. So it was more likely for her (peace of mind, emotional sigh) than for everyone else.
Except that IIRC she came out a few years ago.
and my reaction to her speech? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I am pretty sure you don’t “RC”, Saint Cad. I bet that some of the mad energy she had in the speech was reaction to all the whispering pushes for her to “finally” come out in public.
Didn’t say it was insincere. Just delusional.
I enjoyed it. It was a mess but I still enjoyed it and I did tear up when she spoke of her mother, after that she kind of lost me with all that talk about last time on a stage ever, and being heard quietly and dogs… But if she ever makes another movie, I’ll probably see it as I am a big fan of her work!
I had to read that at least twice.
I kept reading: " So instead of advocating for piracy, just practice it. Shut up. "
Oh. Didn’t know that. In that case she should of shut her damn yapper.
Saint Cad is right, she came out in 2007.
<satire> " Hello, I’m Jodie Foster. I’m still a lesbian. " </satire>
I was more interested in the presence of Mel Gibson at her table. Is she undertaking the rehabilitation of Gibson’s public image?