Jodie Foster’s Harsh Criticism of Gen Z: Working With Them Can Be ‘Very Annoying’

Two-time Oscar-winning American actress and director Jodie Foster said working with Gen Z can be “very irritating.”

In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, she said that sometimes she has difficulty understanding younger people’s attitudes towards work. “They (generation Z) are like: ‘today, I don’t feel like it, I’ll arrive at 10:30am’,” she said.

But Foster praised one Gen Z star, Bella Ramsey, calling the 20-year-old an “example of a professional” emerging into a new “vector of authenticity.”

Foster, who was also a child star before paving a glittering film career, said she felt compelled to help young actors find their way “because it was hard growing up” in her industry.

Throughout her extensive career, the 61-year-old actress has received numerous awards – including two Oscars for best actress for “The Accused” (1988) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).

Speaking about Generation Z – a term generally used to describe those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s – Foster joked: “They’re really annoying – especially in the workplace.”

“They’re like ‘today, I don’t feel like it, I’ll be there at 10:30’.”

“Or, for example, in emails I say everything is grammatically incorrect, didn’t you check the spelling?”

“And they say, ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that a bit limiting?'”

Regarding the advice he would give to young people, Foster said: “They need to learn to relax, to not think too much, to come up with something that is theirs.”

“I can help them figure that out, which is a lot more fun than being, with all the pressure behind it, the protagonist of the story.”

Foster praised Ramsey, recalling what it was like to first meet the star of “The Last of Us” and “Game of Thrones” in Hollywood. The two met at an awards ceremony for the fashion magazine Elle.

Foster described the event as “wonderful” but noted that all attendees were “wearing high heels and eyelashes.”

“There are other ways to be a woman, and it’s really important for people to see that. And Bella, who gave the best speech, was wearing the most perfect suit, beautifully cut, with cleavage and no makeup.”

In January last year, Ramsey, 19, revealed that she is non-binary and treats her gender fluidly.

Foster added that when she was young she wouldn’t have been able to dress like Ramsey in a suit and without makeup at a showbiz event.

“Because we weren’t free. Because we didn’t have freedom. And I hope that’s what the vector of authenticity that’s happening now offers — the possibility of real freedom,” he added.

Foster, who is tipped for another Oscar nomination for her role in “Nyad” (about athlete Diana Nyad), also talked about her two sons and her attitude toward women.

The actress explained that although they are now “super feminists,” at one point, her eldest son believed he needed to be nasty to women to reassert his masculinity.

Foster added, “And I thought, no! That’s not what being a man is! That’s what our culture has been selling you all this time.”

This text was originally published here.