JODIE FOSTER STILL shudders at the memory of losing her son, even though it was for only a matter of minutes. 'He was about 21/2 at the time,' she says. 'I was looking through a crowd and I could see him, but I couldn't get to him because there were all these people in front of us. I could just see him with his little blonde hair running around crying and calling my name. But I couldn't do anything. It was the most horrendous feeling.'
It's this sense of maternal anguish that the 42-year-old, two-time Academy Award-winner brings to her latest role in Flightplan, German director Robert Schwentke's taut psychological thriller.
In her first blockbuster role since Panic Room in 2002, Foster plays Kyle, a recently widowed aeronautical engineer returning to New York from Berlin with her husband's body in the cargo hold. She's accompanied by her six-year-old daughter, Julia (Marlene Lawston) who, like her mother, is struggling to come to terms with her loss.
The drama starts when Kyle awakens to find that Julia has vanished, sparking a mid-air security alert that leaves the cabin crew and audience wondering whether Foster's character has gone insane.
As in Panic Room, Foster is pushed to the edge as she fights to protect her family. It's a subject close to Foster's heart, given that she has two young children of her own.
'It's a feeling like you have one person who understands you and one person who you have this connection with - and they're ripped from you. It's true that when you have children it is the most significant part of your life and that's what moves you.'
