- Title: USA: AMERICAN PREMIERE OF JODIE FOSTERS LATEST MOVIE THRILLER "PANIC ROOM"
- Date: 15th March 2002
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 15, 2002) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) JODIE FOSTER SAYING OF THE DIFFERENCE FROM HER LAST FILM: "Changes everything! Boy, what a different experience. You go from one extreme to the other but I like doing movies that are different every time out and I'm just a big movie lovers. I like all different kinds of films. You
- Embargoed: 30th March 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA8SJR9J1SCAI060W58AP1HXVRF
- Story Text: Almost two and half years after her last on screen effort, two time Oscar winning actress Jodie Foster turned out in Los Angeles on Monday (March 18) to celebrate the World Premiere of her new thriller "Panic Room," directed by "Fight Club" filmmaker David Fincher.
Jodie Foster stepped into the project after the original star Nicole Kidman had to back out following an injury on the set of "Moulin Rouge." Foster plays New York divorcee Meg Altman who begins the film touring a seemingly perfect piece of Manhattan real estate: a huge brownstone that promises to make a perfect home for her and her teenage daughter Sarah, played by Kristen Stewart.
Just before she agrees to purchase the property, she discovers a secret hidden chamber, dubbed the "Panic Room" by her real estate agent. It consists of four concrete walls, a buried phone line not connected to the house's main line, its own ventilation system and a bank of surveillance monitors that covers nearly every corner of the house -- all protected by an impenetrable door made of thick steel.
Even though the room creeps her out, she agrees to buy the brownstone and soon, her daughter and her are moving in. But on her very first night in the house, three burglars, played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and Dwight Yoakam, stage a late night break in and Meg and Sarah are forced to take a stand from the sanctuary of the panic room not realizing that the room itself is their target.
The film is directed by David Fincher, the former commercial and music video director who successfully made the transition to the big screen with such suspense thrillers as "The Game," "Seven" and, most recently, "Fight Club."
Foster says Fincher is one of the most meticulous directors she's ever worked with, adding that every shot in the film is taken with purpose and slavish attention to detail. But that didn't necessarily make her job any easier.
She had to spend 90 percent of the film in a state of abject terror. In order to accomplish this, Foster says she spent a lot of her down time in between shots resting or napping in order to conserve her energy.
"Panic Room" is about as different from Foster's previous film as possible. In late 1999, she starred in the historical epic "Anna and the King," filmed entirely on location in Southeast Asia. This film was shot completely on a southern California soundstage and consisted of one reconstructed building set. It was a claustrophobic and constrained shoot, but the actors used that to inform their performances.
Although the premise of the film seems fantastical, it's actually based in reality. The more crime, terrorism and kidnappings have come to dominate American newscasts, the more popular the panic room has become with wealthy Americans. One California-based builder of such spaces says that he has gone from building roughly six safe rooms a year in the early 90's to now more than 60 each year.
"Panic Room" opens in theatres throughout the United States on Friday, March 29.
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