Jodie Foster on Rape Scene “The Accused” (1988)

Of all her movies, Jodie Foster's character Sarah Tobias, getting raped in The Accused is likely the most harrowing. Loosely based on the real-life gang rape of Cheryl Araujo, this film was one of the first to shed a light on rape directly. Below read three quotes in which Jodie describes how the scene was filmed and how she prepared. Following that, you can watch a few related videos.

[On preparing for the role] "Well being 25 and horribly afraid of the film, really of what I knew I'd have to go through, I just decided not to think about it. So I showed up for rehearsals and I did meet up with a few rape counselors. But I realized I had never read the script again. I'd only read it once. And uh, really in that character role all I needed to know was this kernel of who she was... and to live the film. And that really told me what I needed to know."

[On filming the rape scene] "The actual rape scene... all of it I didn't remember. I blacked out. I would go from one part of the scene to the next part of the scene. And I wouldnt... I didn't remember. I remembered 'cuts' and I remembered 'action', but I wouldnt remember anything in between."

Source: Inside the Actor's Studio

“Jonathan Kaplan was adamant that the rape scene in The Accused be everything that we rehearsed. There would not be one ad-lib. But even after going through a massive amount of rehearsal, after every take, three of the guys just started crying. They were a mess. I had to spend my time telling them, ‘It’s okay. I’m fine. Everything’s okay.’ There was one guy who was not a mess at all. He was like, ‘My hair okay?’ He was my buddy. That was the guy I could hang with because at dinner we just talked about his dog or his life.”

Source: CNN