Jodie Foster

Is there a difference in how you choose films that you want to act in and films you want to direct?
JF: I act characters that are different from myself, that teach me something and that inspire me to be brave in ways that I'm not. I direct movies about who I am - about my life, the people I know, the songs I listen to, the tone that my life has taken - so that I can make sense of my own life and communicate it and put it up there. So there are very opposite reasons why I do both.

In 1991, you were quoted as saying, 'I think what we need to do is to find out how to make women leaders'. Do you see yourself as a leader?
JF: I don't see myself personally as a leader, but I assume a leadership position in my company [Egg Pictures]; certainly as a director. I find that your leadership style has everything to do with your personality. I'm somebody that likes to talk and likes to collaborate. A lot of directors don't. A lot of directors like to just tell you what to do. But I really like to hear other people's responses and hear their instincts and what they're having trouble with, and then try to incorporate my vision into that.

Who are your role models as leaders?
JF: I suppose it's true that because I came from a business that was all men when I was growing up, that men were my mentors. They were the ones who taught me the gentlemanly art of being in the film business - you know, you don't steal people's ideas, you always give people credit, you always say please and thank you and send thank-you notes.

Do you have a protege or someone that you feel the same way about?
JF: I have a partner in my company, Meg LeFauve, who is a producer at Egg Pictures and who runs my company. She is just so creative and has such great taste. I can't say she's my protege because we're the same age, but I learn from her and she learns from me, and I think we just make a great team.

What else can we be doing to promote leadership in women?
JF: Well, I have this really outdated philosophy about success in a corporate structure, and you're going to think I'm really romantic and a fool, but here it goes. I think that if you are moral and you're right and you have the right ethics, that eventually somewhere down the line you're going to end up being successful.