Jodie Foster protects “Elysium” from Earth invaders

CEBU, Philippines - Double Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster stars opposite Matt Damon as Secretary Delacourt, the hardline official determined to protect Elysium for the wealthy, in Columbia Pictures’ futuristic action thriller “Elysium,” a recent No. 1 box office hit in the U.S.

In the film, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the crime and poverty that is now rampant throughout the land. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

“As the Secretary of Defense, she sees it as her job to keep immigrants out of Elysium,” says Foster. “She sees Elysium as a utopia – what Earth could have been, but wasn’t. She’s finding herself handcuffed by a new, more liberal administration, but she’s 108 years old; she remembers when Earth was falling apart and why they created Elysium in the first place. She knows what will happen if you let everybody in – it’ll end up just like Earth. If you try to give Elysium to everybody, you’ll end up giving it to nobody.”

“I love the themes of this movie,” she says. “The richer have become richer and the poor have become poorer – that extends to everything from who gets to be healthy to who gets to have children, who gets to have a family and who gets to escape the poisoned environment. The chasm has become so enormous that, in the movie, it’s literally two different worlds.”

Foster’s stunning performances as a rape survivor in “The Accused” and as Special Agent Clarice Starling in the hit thriller “The Silence of the Lambs” earned her two Academy Awards for Best Actress and a reputation as one of the most critically acclaimed actresses of her generation.

As a child actor, her role in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (1975) brought her to the audience’s attention and her powerful portrayal of a streetwise teenager in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) won her widespread critical praise and international attention. Foster appeared in a total of four films in 1976, “Bugsy Malone,” “Echoes of Summer,” “Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane” and “Taxi Driver,” which were all presented at the Cannes Film Festival. Alan Parker’s “Bugsy Malone” earned her an Italian Comedy Award.

In total, Foster has appeared in more than 40 films, including recent films “Carnage” for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination; “Nim’s Island” with Gerard Butler; “The Brave One” for director Neil Jordan for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination; “Inside Man” with Denzel Washington and Clive Owen; the box-office hit “Flightplan,” Jean Pierre Jeunet’s French language film, “A Very Long Engagement,” David Fincher’s box-office success, “Panic Room,” “Contact” for director Robert Zemeckis; “Nell” opposite Liam Neeson; the comedy “Maverick” opposite Mel Gibson and James Garner; and the romantic drama “Sommersby” opposite Richard Gere.

Opening across the Philippines on Sept. 04, “Elysium” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. (FREEMAN)