How Jodie Foster Helped Kristen Stewart Nab Her Role in 'The Yellow Handkerchief'

So how much of a role did Jodie Foster have in getting a then-largely undiscovered Kristen Stewart her part in "The Yellow Handkerchief?"

Producer Arthur Cohn told journalists that Foster "urged" him to sign the pre-"Twilight" Stewart for the movie which only just opened in theaters on Friday.

"Nobody wanted me to take (Stewart) in the part of Martine, she was practically an unknown," Cohn told the press at "The Yellow Handkerchief's" press day. "But Jodie Foster, a close friend, urged me to take her."

"So I took her."

He repeated the same thoughts in the film's official press notes which state that Foster "recommended" Stewart for the part. "I followed Jodie's advice because she's a great actress and director," Cohn is quoted as saying in the notes.

Indeed Cohn and Foster are friends. And Foster and Stewart have had a mutual admiration thing going since Foster played the mother to the child actress in "The Panic Room."

But when questioned about the Foster connection for "Handkerchief's" casting, Stewart told journalists it was the first she had heard of it.
The film's director Udayan Prasad says it was actually Kristen's knock-out audition at the Chateau Marmont that attracted his attention immediately and let to her casting in the movie starring William Hurt and Mario Bello.

"She has a terrific presence Kristen does," he tells PopEater. "She walked into the room. You just sensed something, like who is that person?

"Art [Cohn] probably talked to Jodie Foster after we had met Kristen."

Indeed, a source close to Foster tells PopEater that it was Cohn who brought up the idea of casting Stewart during a phone conversation. "Arthur was the one who mentioned Kristen and Jodie said, 'Oh my God she would be great,' " says the source. "It's wasn't her idea."

"But Jodie did say that Kristen would be really good for it."
So clearly, Stewart brought her own cake to the audition and Foster provided the icing.



Popeater