Meaningful – that’s one of the main criteria that the two-time Golden Globe winner and Cecil B. deMille honoree Jodie Foster applies when choosing her work. In her latest film, The Mauritanian, she plays Nancy Hollander, a civil rights crusader defending Mohamedou Ould Salahi (Tahar Rahim), who has been captured by the U.S. government and imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp without charges.

Foster told HFPA journalist Rocio Ayuso why, for the first time, she agreed to play a role based on a real person who is still alive. “I’ve never been a big fan of biopics. I kind of just don’t really like the form of it. I really prefer making films about ideas. And then being able to shape things, shape the character, shape the facts. In this case, Mohamedou’s story is so extraordinary, and the way that it was crafted was like a real cinema. So I was totally drawn to it.”

She wanted to be a part of bringing Salahi’s experiences to the screen. “This story was so incredibly meaningful, and I really just wanted to be a part of that. I wanted people to love him and know him. This Muslim man who has been portrayed as a figure of fear and terrorism, to see him as a real guy, a guy who is affectionate and who’s flawed and who was scared. Who’s a good friend, who still has so much humanity, who was able to forgive his captors.

Listen to the podcast and hear how 9/11 affected her; whether she talks with anybody regarding her career choices; does she bring her characters home?; why she has been more selective with her roles lately; why she says she doesn’t have an actor’s personality; why she enjoys directing TV episodes; what kind of director she is; how directing helps her as an actor; what has been her best film school; what she thinks about the fact that movies can now be watched on a phone; what is the first movie she remembers seeing; would she work in more foreign movies?; why she can’t dub her movies in French anymore; what is her advice for young actors; who is her hero; what she likes best on sets and what she dislikes; where she keeps her notebook when she is directing; why she is not interested in writing a biography; would she write fiction?; what are her thoughts about the new TV show Clarice, based on The Silence of the Lambs did she believe 30 years ago that The Silence of the Lambs would be successful? – and what kind of memories she has from the set; how was it working with Anthony Hopkins