--- ---  # Jodie Foster on Directing in 1991: 'This Is Not a Business That Is Kind to Women'  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 13, 2016 12:30 PM UTC  The Oct. 14, 1991, cover of TIME The Oct. 14, 1991, cover of TIMECover Credit: GREGORY HEISLER  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 13, 2016 12:30 PM UTC _Money Monster_, arriving in theaters on Friday, [features](http://time.com/4178835/jodie-foster-money-monster/) Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Jodie Foster—but that last movie star won’t be seen on screen. The film is just the latest of Foster’s several turns behind the camera, a move she began to make 25 years ago. Back then, TIME explored Foster’s decision to direct in a cover story about the star and her film _Little Man Tate,_ in which she also starred. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) At the time, Foster was 28 years old, and had been in the public eye for nearly all of her young life. As a child star, she had once told an interviewer that being a director sounded great, because “they get to do anything”: that meant they could “have people killed, blow things up, make people cry and laugh.” But, she said, the job was “a very masculine thing to do.” **MORE:** [This Forgotten Female Screenwriter Helped Give Hollywood Its Voice](http://time.com/4186886/frances-marion/) Then Foster went to college, graduated, resumed her career and found _Little Man Tate,_ a child prodigy story that spoke to something she knew firsthand. But, she told TIME, even as she embarked on a directing project herself, she knew the job was still seen as a “masculine” occupation: --- > “” --- **_Read the full 1991 cover story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [A Director is Born](http://time.com/vault/issue/1991-10-14/page/1/) **_Read the accompanying story about women breaking into the director’s chair in 1991:_** [Hollywood’s New Directions](http://time.com/vault/issue/1991-10-14/page/109/) Before Money Monster: Jodie Foster on Being a Woman Director ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4323987/jodie-foster-director-money-monster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4323987/jodie-foster-director-money-monster/"},"headline":"Jodie Foster on Directing in 1991: 'This Is Not a Business That Is Kind to Women'","datePublished":"2016-05-13T12:30:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:24:36.370Z","description":"The actress' latest venture behind the camera—rather than in front of it—is 'Money Monster.' In 1991, TIME explored why she switched roles.","url":"https://time.com/4323987/jodie-foster-director-money-monster/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4f6d99b33e0d181/698892830a4a2252d69c9980/1101911014_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4f6d99b33e0d181/698892830a4a2252d69c9980/1101911014_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oct. 14, 1991","caption":"Oct. 14, 1991","creditText":"Cover Credit: GREGORY HEISLER","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4323987/jodie-foster-director-money-monster/","name":"Jodie Foster on Directing in 1991: 'This Is Not a Business That Is Kind to Women'"}}]}] ```