The movie Jodie Foster called a “betrayal to the talent” who worked on it
It must be frustrating to work on a project that demands everything from you—your blood, sweat, and tears—only to see the final product fall short of your expectations or fail to do your work justice. Silence of the Lambs star Jodie Foster expressed her sympathy for the talent involved in one of the most controversial films of the last 30 years during a fascinating conversation with the late Roger Ebert.
While discussing the release of Foster’s film Nell in 1994, they got onto the topic of reviews and film critics, leading Ebert to ask Foster which films she would’ve praised from the year gone by. The actor briefly touches upon Pulp Fiction as being a standout but quickly moves on to Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers.
The film, starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr and Tommy Lee Jones, centres on Mickey and Mallory Knox, both of whom have suffered traumatic childhoods, as they fall in love and kill numerous people. They then end up glorified by the media as a result. The film, controversial for its depiction of violence and accused of inspiring copycat crimes, unsurprisingly has a violent conclusion. Beware, spoilers ahead.
Wayne Gale, played by Downey Jr, is the reporter following the couple’s killing spree and is largely responsible for their newfound fame. After Mickey and Mallory Knox are arrested following a shootout at a drugstore—captured on camera by a news crew—Gale convinces Mickey to participate in a live TV interview set to air immediately after the Super Bowl. From that point on, everything that could possibly go wrong does.
The interview sparks a prison riot, Mickey starts killing those who are in the room with him, and takes Gale hostage, among others. All the while, Gale and his crew are reporting live as the riot unfolds. None of his crew survives; meanwhile, Gale takes the opportunity to partake in the carnage himself. Escaping alongside the Knoxes, Gale is informed by them that they are going to kill him and that the camera will be their trademark sole survivor, not Gale. Thus, Gale is murdered by the Knoxes.
The film left quite the impact on Foster, who was extremely complimentary of the production side of the project, stating, “You look and you go, my God! The mixing! My God! The direction! The photography.”
However, Foster then begins to question the movie and its end goal. She said: “But then you ask yourself, what end does it serve? It felt to me like a betrayal to the talent of the people that were involved to have it go to such an incredibly inhuman end. I didn’t get it.”
It’s indisputable that the film’s lack of a clear resolution threw audiences off, disrupting the usual moral compass we expect from cinema. Rather than facing punishment, Mickey and Mallory continue their spree of violence and bask in their twisted celebrity. Some critics and viewers were left unsettled, dismissing the ending as irresponsible for not outright condemning their actions. There were, for a period of time, genuine concerns that this approach could inspire copycat behaviour or, worse, romanticise the pair’s criminal exploits, leaving a dangerous message hanging in the air.
While Natural Born Killers is still discussed today because of its controversial content, it does present an interesting topic of conversation. How much gratuity are we willing to let slide in favour of the talent that went into depicting it? Clearly, in Foster’s opinion, this movie exceeded the limit.
