BRAVE NEW WORLD ERICA BAIN METES OUT JUSTICE, BUT JODIE FOSTER SUGGESTS YOU HOLD YOUR APPLAUSE.

Byline: >BY GLENN WHIPP 

>FILM WRITER

Jodie Foster knows that her new movie, "The Brave One," will rub some people the wrong way.

"That's fine," she says. "It should disturb people. It's subversive. I expect discussion. Discussion is good.

"I went through this on 'Taxi Driver.' I went through this on 'Silence of the Lambs.' I went through it big-time on 'The Accused,' where people in the audience were cheering when my character was raped.

"This movie makes people uncomfortable. Good. It should make people uncomfortable."

But in pushing people's buttons, is "The Brave One" sending mixed messages about its heroine, a woman who becomes a vigilante after watching thugs kill her fiance?

Warner Bros. began screening "The Brave One" for journalists in early July. I interviewed Foster eight days after seeing the movie, by which time the filmmakers had already made a significant change to the voice-over heard at the film's conclusion.

But it isn't hard to imagine that audiences will still regard Foster's character, Erica Bain, as a hero and not a woman who, as Foster puts it, "is changed, tragically and monstrously, into another being."

"I can't control how people react," Foster says. "People thought Hannibal Lecter was a great guy. I was surprised by that. Not that I didn't think it was quite healthy. There haven't been more instances of serial killers since 'Silence of the Lambs.' Movies like that talk about things that people don't talk about."

Here, in a spoiler-laden interview -- if you're planning on seeing "The Brave One," you might want to read this after watching the film -- Foster talks about the things movie stars don't usually talk about, at least not with the kind of intellect Foster, 44, brings to the table.

The line in the trailer, when Erica sticks a gun in the bad guy's face and growls, "I want my dog back," is already part of the lexicon.

I love it! It's a ridiculous line. It's monstrous.

You're not bothered by people cheering on this character?

If this movie was coming out on four screens starring some wonderfully obscure German actress, I don't think we'd be having this discussion. There is a different narrative criterion for mainstream movies. I stand by this movie. It's a sophisticated movie for sophisticated film audiences, and, yes, there might be plenty of unsophisticated people out there, but I can't control that.

But there are things you can control -- the Sarah McLachlan song. Hearing it at the end, you'd think Erica had been healed by whole experience.

I'm with you. The song is a little -- difficult. I love Sarah McLachlan. But I think the song is misleading. But that's the one they chose.

The lyrics "If it takes my whole life/ I won't break I won't bend/ It will all be worth it/ Worth it in the end" sound to me like Sinatra singing "My Way."

I like the song. But I'm with you.

The title itself could be considered misleading. Is she really "The Brave One"?

There was much discussion on that, too. (Laughs) But (producer) Joel Silver liked it. It's a fine line. We did just change the voice-over at the end of the movie.

You just changed it? From the movie I saw last week?

Two days ago. The last thing she says is: "It is astonishing to come to find inside you there is a stranger that keeps walking, keeps breathing and keeps living. That stranger is all you are now." It's very different.

Why the change?

It has taken us a while to figure out what needed to be there at the end. Now, there's a hardness to the ending. "That stranger is all you are now." There's an unrepentant quality to it that will hopefully make people understand that her transformation is complete and she's not coming back. Neither is the dog.

The most disturbing scene in the movie has to be when the cop who, to that point had been the moral center of the movie, essentially endorses what Erica is doing.

Well that's the character's decision. It's not the film's point of view. The message is that violence corrupts absolutely. It corrupts everything it touches.

You mentioned "Taxi Driver" earlier. Do you see any of Travis Bickle in Erica?

The differences are more interesting to talk about. The mere fact that she's a woman makes her completely different. But also, Travis was a product of the Vietnam era in a New York that was very different and an America that was very different. There was an unconsciousness to him. He doesn't know why he's doing what he's doing. He can't dissect his motivations.

He probably hasn't read many self-help books.

Right. So he's sliding, but he doesn't know why. Erica has gone to college and is an intellectual and is someone who reflects on life. The path is conscious to her, but she can't stop herself.

The two eras are interesting to contrast, too. New York is now the safest big city in the world. But does that make you feel better if something bad happens to you?

I haven't been to New York since 2002. The city was still thick with fear then. Has that changed in the past five years?

People still live with the reminder that something bad can happen at any time. It's always there. One thing about the movie, I think there's this collective unconscious truth to it that we don't want to admit, that rage-slash-fear is part of our genes, part of who we are as Americans, part of post-9/11 New York. And it's not necessarily commensurate to reality.

Some people are calling "The Brave One" a female "Death Wish." (Director) Neil Jordan feels the movie isn't as much about vigilantism as it is revenge.

I don't think it's about revenge at all. All the things that happen to her throughout the film, all the killings, even the ones at the very end, are not about revenge. It couldn't be further from "Death Wish."

What's interesting about the movie is that instead of saying violent people are born that way or something bad happens to them and then they become bad, you see this progression of self-discovery. Erica discovers what, in some ways, is beautiful about herself is also discovering what is most monstrous about herself.

The film lives as social commentary. It just doesn't tie up the ending in some kind of moral bow in order for people to feel better about the film. People like their social commentary neat. This movie is many things, but it isn't neat.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

[e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (Jodie Foster) TINA BURCH>LA.COM

(2 -- cover -- color) cheer her, fear hear

JODIE FOSTER ON HER CONTROVERSIAL 'BRAVE ONE' ROLE

(3) "This movie makes people uncomfortable. Good. It should make people uncomfortable," says Jodie Foster of her new film, "The Brave One."

(4) Jodie Foster, who played a young prostitute opposite Robert De Niro in the 1976 "Taxi Driver," has made a career of choosing film roles for their depiction of strong women.