Jodie Foster is officially an Emmy winner. The veteran actor took home her first trophy from the TV Academy on Sunday night, winning lead actress in a limited series for her role in “True Detective: Night Country.”
After Lily Gladstone and Greta Lee presented the golden statuette to Foster at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, the actress was in a fluster during the “emotional moment,” as she immediately flubbed the name of the HBO series, calling it, “True Detective: North Country.”
Foster quickly recovered and said making the show was a “magical experience and it all comes from the top,” listing off thank-yous for “Night Country” creator Issa López, the crew and her co-star Kali Reis.
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In particular, Foster said she wanted to highlight the Inuit people of Northern Alaska. (Though the show was filmed in Iceland, it takes place in Alaska and the team traveled to Alaska for research.) “They just told us their stories and they allowed us to listen and that was just a blessing. It was love, love, love. And when you feel that, something amazing happens. It’s deep and wonderful and it’s older than this place and this time. That’s just the message, which is love and work equals art.”
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“True Detective: Night Country” was the most-nominated HBO series at this year’s Emmys with 19 nods. Foster led as Detective Liz Danvers in the fourth season of the anthology crime drama.
Earlier this year, she opened up to Variety during “Actors on Actors” with Robert Downey Jr., recalling the shoot in Alaska and Iceland. She detailed a scene during which she fell through the ice, explaining that, despite her many years of acting, it wasn’t easy.
“We shot that on a big tank. And it’s entirely dark, maybe 150 feet down. I work with a free diver, who’s like, ‘This is how we hold our breath in a way that allows us to keep going down. I’m going to be off to the side. When they say “cut,” I can swim to you and save you.’ They weighted every jacket so I couldn’t get to the surface, and I had big boots on,” she said. “The thing I hadn’t anticipated was that I couldn’t see anything in front of me. It was actually my worst nightmare. Usually, it’s the opposite when you designate something like, ‘This is going to be bad.’ But when I got there, it was bad.”
Foster, who was also nominated as a producer of “Night Country,” competed in the acting category against Brie Larson (“Lessons in Chemistry”), Juno Temple (“Fargo”), Sofia Vergara (“Griselda”) and Naomi Watts (“Fued: Capote vs. The Swans”).
