Jodie Foster is undoubtedly one of the greatest actors in Hollywood who marked her prominence after winning two Oscars for her performances in Jonathan Kaplan’s trial drama The Accused and Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. Foster has since appeared in a lot of movies in her long Hollywood tenure.
Perhaps, The Silence of the Lambs was the greatest she appeared in her career, and the movie even highlighted her rising career as an actor. But Foster refused to appear in the sequel of the hit thriller, declining a huge paycheck.
Also read: 2 Time Oscar Winner Jodie Foster Sued Marvel Star’s Movie for $54M as He Wouldn’t Play Her Father
Jodie Foster Declined The Silence of the Lambs Sequel
Following the success of The Silence of the Lambs, three more movies emerged in the Hannibal Lecter franchise — Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002), and Hannibal Rising (2007). While Anthony Hopkins who played the iconic villain Hannibal Lecter was returning for the sequel, Hannibal, Jodie Foster rejected the film. Reportedly, Foster was offered a $15 million paycheck but she refused to reprise her role stating that the material was not satisfactory. Later, the star also said that she had a scheduling conflict as she was all set to sit on the director’s chair. Foster told Total Film,
“The official reason I didn’t do Hannibal is I was doing another movie, Flora Plum. So I get to say, in a nice, dignified way, that I wasn’t available when that movie was being shot.”
After Foster’s rejection, Still Alice star Julianne Moore joined the cast of Hannibal with Gary Oldman and Ray Liotta, but director Jonathan Demme also refused to come back and Ridley Scott directed the movie that was so far away to make an impact as the original movie, which won the Big Five Oscars.
Flora Plum— Jodie Foster’s Passion Project
Foster was not always before the camera performing her acting prowess, the actor also has a few directorial credits. Foster made her directorial debut in 1991 with Little Man Tate and went on to direct Home for the Holidays, The Beaver, Money Monster, as well as Black Mirror season 4, episode 2, Arkangel. But for Foster, Flora Plum was always a passion project for which she gave up the Hannibal role despite a huge payday. Of course, Clarice— her character in The Silence of the Lamb— meant a lot to the actor, but she felt the need to move on as the director did.
“Clarice meant so much to Jonathan [Demme] and I … and I know it sounds kind of strange to say but there was no way that either of us could really trample on her.”
The Panic Room star dedicated her soul to directing Flora Plum— a romance movie set in a 1930s circus. Steven Rogers wrote the script and starred Russell Crowe, Meryl Streep, Claire Danes, and Ewan McGregor in major roles. However, Flora Plum was deferred after Crowe met with a shoulder injury while training for a circus act and the film has not bern taken off the shelves ever since. It has been a broken dream of Foster. So, it’s safe to assume that as Foster pursued the director’s chair she lost the huge paycheck due to Crowe’s injury. Foster later revealed that she saw Hannibal, but said, “I won’t comment.” Of course, the movie made money but it was a critical failure, so, it’s hard to assume if Foster regretted saying no to the movie.
Source: SlashFilm
