The 'True Detective' actress says she was physically shaken by a lion when she was a child actress
Acting professionally since she was a child, Jodie Foster has accumulated a litany of interesting stories from her time on various sets.
During a recent appearance on "The Graham Norton Show," the 61-year-old actress spoke about a scary incident that took place during one of her earliest projects, "Napolean and Samantha."
The film follows a young boy and girl on their dangerous trek up a mountain alongside their pet lion, Major, a reformed circus animal.
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Johnny Whitaker and Jodie Foster walk alongside a lion in the 1972 film "Napoleon and Samantha." (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
Foster, who was 9 at the time, said there were three large cats on set: the star lion, a stunt lion and a stand-in lion.
"I was working with the stand-in lion and I guess he had a little piano wire that was pulling him," the "True Detective" actress explained.
"We finished the take and I was going up the hill and all I remember is I remember seeing his mane come around and then he picked me up sideways, and shook me in his mouth and turned me around," she shared, much to the horror of fellow guest Olivia Coleman.
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Jodie Foster remembers being confused when a lion shook her from its mouth on set. She thought she was experiencing an earthquake from all the shaking. (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
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"And every single person on the crew was running in the opposite direction and I’m like sideways, watching everybody – and they took their equipment, too!"
"And I'm watching everybody leave, going like, ‘What’s happening?'… I remember feeling like, ‘Oh it’s an earthquake!' because I was getting shaken," she added. "The trainer said ‘Drop it’ and because the lion was so well-trained he opened his mouth and dropped me down."
Jodie Foster revealed that while filming "Napoleon and Samantha," a lion used its mouth to pick her up. (Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images)
"And I went running," Foster said, gesticulating that she rolled down the hill. Although disciplined, the lion was not done with Foster. "And then he came after me and then just put one paw on me and then just waited, like, ‘I got her!’" she said of the cat's final action.
The film, which also stars Johnny Whitaker and Michael Douglas, was released in 1972.
Caroline Thayer is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Follow Caroline Thayer on Twitter at @carolinejthayer. Story tips can be sent to
