"They really respect the process of filmmaking and really respect the director's vision, and they don't try to interfere even though they have very important points to make and they're incredibly helpful," Foster said. She hired nearly an entirely new crew, from the director of photography to the composer, and though Jones was the on the set, Foster didn't meet Brooker until editing began. "They have each show be its own entity," Foster said with appreciation.
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When I interviewed her in 2016 before the release of Money Monster, Foster said she enjoys directing television because she likes "serving a creator," and, with an established show, "serving that template." But with Black Mirror, there is no template, and Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones let the directors forge their own paths. Foster called "Arkangel" "a small indie movie," particularly in contrast to more glossy, futuristic episodes of Black Mirror. It's the story of a mother named Marie (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her daughter, Sara (played by three actors at different ages, but most weightily by Brenna Harding) - and, of course, some ill-used technology. Which brings us to Foster's "Arkangel," written by Brooker. Some favor the realistic nihilism of Season 1's "The National Anthem," in which a British prime minister is blackmailed into fucking a pig on television others love the empty-feeling yearning of "Be Right Back" from Season 2, in which a woman whose boyfriend dies in an accident has to weigh whether she wants him to live on with her through artificial intelligence and many adore the optimistic, romantic "San Junipero" from Season 3, in which two women fall in love in a virtual reality space, and have to decide whether to spend eternity together. As a result, Black Mirror, now in its fourth season on Netflix (all six episodes went up on Friday) offers varied pleasures to its fans, who can often cite their favorite episodes by name. Though all Black Mirror episodes draw their plots from ethical dilemmas precipitated by technology, each one has a completely different story and cast - and some are more high-concept (and ornate) than others.
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She has also directed four feature films and - now including Black Mirror - four episodes of television.
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She has acted in dozens of movies, and won the Best Actress Oscar twice, once for The Accused in 1988 and again for 1991's Silence of the Lambs. But she quickly remedied that.įoster, 55, has been working in the entertainment industry since she starred in a Coppertone commercial when she was 3 years old. And though Foster had worked with Netflix before - directing two episodes of Orange Is the New Black and one of House of Cards - she hadn't watched Black Mirror. The show Holland wanted Foster to consider was Black Mirror, the science fiction–drama hybrid created by Charlie Brooker, who writes most of the show's episodes. When the Netflix executive heard Foster's complaints, "she said, 'I've got the show for you,'" Foster told BuzzFeed News. But movies aren't necessarily easy to make these days, especially the thoughtful dramas Foster likes to direct. When Jodie Foster had lunch with Cindy Holland, Netflix's vice president of original content, Foster recalls she was "bemoaning the film industry, as usual, while eating sushi." Foster told Holland that though she enjoys serialized television, what she likes more is directing short stories with "a beginning, a middle, and an end." In other words, movies.