© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Jodie Foster Finds Dark Side in 'Brave One'

In her new movie, The Brave One, Jodie Foster plays a character with an unlikely dual role: a public radio host and a vigilante.

Foster's character, Erica Bain, is a New York radio host who creates intimate sound essays about the city that she loves — a city that she says is "disappearing before her eyes." Bain's fiance is killed when they are brutally attacked while walking their dog. Bain's response: She gets a 9 millimeter handgun and takes the law into her own hands, mowing down predators all around the city.

In an interview with NPR's Melissa Block, Foster discusses her role and what it means to play a sympathetic dark character, blurring the ethical lines by meting out her own form of justice.

Foster says that the film genre creates an almost primal experience.

"As an audience member, you're asked to progress on this journey ... with her," Foster says of her character. "It makes you cheer in places that you wished you hadn't. It kind of taps into this very true, very authentic, very human, but also very shameful side of us."

Foster says that she enjoys the creative process, which allows her to assume roles and emotions she doesn't explore in her everyday life. By playing Bain, she could feel the power of a woman accessing her own rage — instead of turning it inward. It is that rage that confounds detectives who are trying to piece together the crimes. At first, they don't think a woman would commit those acts.

"Women hurt themselves. They drink themselves to death. They take abuse and rage and they turn it inwards," Foster says. "They hurt people they love."

Foster says she loves playing characters in dark dramas. Acting in The Brave One was "rich" and "exciting," she says, and it allowed her to explore the transformative process of a woman claiming her own rage.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.