Jodie Foster took a humorous jab at Gen Z during a recent interview with The Guardian, saying they’re especially annoying to work with. Gen Z, the generation directly proceeding millennials, comprises those born after 1996 and through 2010.
“They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace,” Foster told the publication. “They’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10:30 a.m.’ Or, like, in emails, I’ll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they’re like, ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that kind of limiting?’”
This isn’t to say that Foster feels she’s above Gen Z. Quite the contrary, as the Oscar winner has made it a mission to reach out to young actors coming up in the industry. Foster herself started her acting career as a child. She recently made an effort to contact “The Last of Us” Emmy nominee Bella Ramsey and asked the young performer to introduce her at an event in Hollywood.
“They need to learn how to relax, how to not think about it so much, how to come up with something that’s theirs,” Foster added when asked about her advice to young actors these days. “I can help them find that, which is so much more fun than being, with all the pressure behind it, the protagonist of the story.”
Foster has been making the press rounds for months now as an Oscar contender for her supporting role in Netflix’s swimming drama “Nyad.” She’s also leading the fourth season of HBO’s “True Detective,” which launches Jan. 14. During an interview with Elle magazineat the end of last year, Foster went viral for expressing her criticisms with superhero movies.
“It’s a phase. It’s a phase that’s lasted a little too long for me, but it’s a phase, and I’ve seen so many different phases,” Foster said. “Hopefully people will be sick of it soon. The good ones — like ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Black Panther,’ ‘The Matrix’ — I marvel at those movies, and I’m swept up in the entertainment of it, but that’s not why I became an actor. And those movies don’t change my life. Hopefully there’ll be room for everything else.”
Foster’s performance in “Nyad” has earned her a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice Award nomination for supporting actress.
