Sterling K. Brown had to "pinch" himself when he filmed opposite Jodie Foster for the first time.
The 42-year-old actor plays a patient in ‘Hotel Artemis’ – which follows a members-only hospital used by criminals and overseen by The Nurse (Foster) – and admitted it was "awesome" working with the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ actress because he’s been a fan of her work for such a long time.
He gushed: "Talk about somebody that you’ve watched since you’ve been a child. Somebody who has been in this business for over 50 years, right.
"It was one of those moments where it’s like Clarice Starling is right on the other side of the screen, and we’re talking to each other right now.
"You pinch yourself for a second and then you re-engage and realise what my fellow actor is giving me right now is something I can use, and make sure you’re giving her something back.
"Then you drop into the present moment and everything takes care of itself.
"More than anything else – more than transformation, more than speech or dialogue or any sort of tricks – is the ability to be present and in the moment, that any actor will respond to quicker than anything else.
"That’s what Jodie is. She’s dropped in, she’s ready- whatever you give her she’ll give you something back. So, that was awesome."
The movie marked Jodie’s first acting project in five years as she’s been busy directing, and Sterling thinks her presence made filmmaker Drew Pearce even more "prepared and focused" on his feature film debut.
He told Collider: "He knew exactly what he wanted. I think he had the story percolating for such a long time, with the idea of him directing it as well.
"Here’s the thing too, when you’re directing a director, and I’m talking about Jodie in particular, you better make sure that you cross your Ts and dot your Is because she’ll call you on your stuff. Jodie doesn’t shrink to anybody.
"It made him be so incredibly prepared and focused on what exactly his vision was going to be for the film, that he was in complete control from beginning to end- and it was great."
Sterling K Brown praises Jodie Foster
