Abigail Breslin and Jodie Foster in Nim's Island Courtesy of Fox Walden

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Jodie Foster — she of the Ivy League pedigree, the 42-year-long (and counting!) career, the Oscar statue bookends — is a woman who needs no introduction. The bilingual talent recently spoke with Premiere France — en Français, bien sûr — about her new film, Nim's Island, an adventure comedy with Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin, plus 'Flora Plum,' telephoto lenses, and whose roles she'd like to swipe.

Most actors tend to make a few family-friendly pictures once their children are old enough to go to the movies. Is this what compelled you to make Nim's Island?
Of course that entered into the decision. This was the first time they could really be with me on set. [In the past] they'd come to shoots to have lunch with me, but they would then have to wait for me in my trailer because I usually had my hands full. But I also liked the role. Up until now, I've always played very dramatic characters who are suffering, fearful and alone. I sincerely thought that would change after doing an adventure comedy for children, but in the middle of filming I realized that my character, Alex, had the same problems. She's afraid of everything and lives in isolation.

Despite your character's problems, this role is clearly oriented towards comedy — a genre that you have not explored since 1994's Maverick.
People don't imagine me in this kind of film even though I am very lighthearted in real life, a far cry from the ultra-serious image I seem to have. But dramas have always attracted me more; I only rent [dramas] at the video store. It is rare that comedies pique my interest.

Since your turn in Flightplan three years ago, you've seemed to want to shake things up, in terms of what audiences and studios expect from you.
Yes and no... maybe... I knew that Flightplan was a typical American film, with a script that has some unexpected elements to it. The character touched me and gave me the opportunity to work with a fantastic young director, Robert Schwentke. As of now I am looking for roles that would provoke me to evolve as an actress, it's true. [I'd like to work] with directors who are capable of teaching me things, like Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Spike Lee or Neil Jordan. I'm getting older, too. The Brave One, for example, is not a movie that I would have been able to film when I was 20 years old. At that age, my vision of morality was black and white, Manichean. Today, it's more the grey part that interests me.