Jodie Foster To Direct And Star In English-Language 'Women At War' Remake

It's been seven years since Jodie Foster has starred in a film that she's directed, but the two-time Oscar winner is pulling double duty again for the English-language remake of the Iceland eco-thriller Women at War. The eccentric comedy-drama thriller, which follows a teacher who moonlights as a vigilante environmental activist, is Iceland's official submission for Foreign Language film at the upcoming Oscars.

Jodie Foster will be starring in, directing, and co-producing Women at War, Deadline reports. This will be the first time Foster has both starred and directed in a feature film since 2011's The Beaver, though the Oscar winner has both acted in and directed separate features since.

According to Deadline, Foster will take on the role of Halla, played in the original film by Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, a mild-mannered music teacher who moonlights as an outlaw environmental activist who regularly sabotages the local aluminum industry's plants. But in the midst of her one-woman campaign against the aluminum factories, she learns that she has been approved for adoption of a baby girl in Ukraine. It's the type of absurd comedic thriller that you can expect to come out of Iceland, and seems well-suited to Foster's directorial touch. Foster was inspired by the original film, which was directed and co-written by Benedikt Erlingsson:

Foster hasn't acted much in the recent decade, though she starred in this year's stylish thriller Hotel Artemis. But she's been steadily directing since her 1991 directorial debut Little Man Tate, helming five feature films since then. But Foster has increasingly tried her hand at TV directing, helming an episode of House of Cards and most recently, an acclaimed episode of the sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror, "Arkangel."

"I can't wait to play her," Foster added. "I'm always drawn to a bold and quirky mixture of humor and emotion. This one speaks for our time. It is an honor to take the reins from the talented director Benedikt Erlingsson and his producing partner Marianne Slot."

It will be fast turnaround for Women at War, which came out in theaters this year. But it'll be great to see Foster in front of and behind the camera again, in an absurd comedy that hopefully won't be lost in translation.