Jodie Foster Lifts Off

It's the first day of school and Jodie Foster has a big smile on her face. With Charlie starting first grade and Kit off to preschool, Foster says from her home in Los Angeles, "I've been really giddy all day."

It's not so much that she's glad for a moment to herself at 11am to shower, but that her two boys seemed so excited about the rite of passage. Most of all, she's ecstatic that despite the fact that she's got Flightplan opening in a few days and several more major movies in production, she was there for it. "They just waved and said see you later," she says happily. "I wouldn't miss it. I'm just not capable of missing out on it. I can't do it. Can't miss Halloween. Can't miss the first day of school. I'm just not going to do it."

That about sums up Foster's career plan at the moment. She's a mommy first, a director second, an actress third, a producer fourth and the head of a production company dead last.

"I've wanted to direct since I was six or seven," says the almost 43-year-old star, who started in show business as a toddler. "What I always say about acting is that it's a combination of factors ‑- one part is excruciating boredom and the other part is so challenging that you can barely close your eyes at night." Producing, for her, is the bottom rung on the Hollywood ladder. "It's the worst job in the movie business," she says.