Jodie Foster recalls terrifying moment on set when a lion ‘shook me in his mouth’

Hollywood star Jodie Foster recalls the terrifying moment she was physically shaken by a lion when she was just a child actress.

Acting professionally since she was a child, Jodie Foster has accumulated a litany of interesting stories from her time on various sets.

During a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the 61-year-old actress spoke about a scary incident that took place during one of her earliest projects, Napoleon and Samantha, reports Fox News.

The film follows a young boy and girl on their dangerous trek up a mountain alongside their pet lion, Major, a reformed circus animal.

Jodie Foster recalled her lion encounter on The Graham Norton Show.

Foster said she was terrified when the lion picked her up during filming.

Foster, who was nine at the time, said there were three large cats on set: the star lion, a stunt lion and a stand-in lion.

“I was working with the stand-in lion and I guess he had a little piano wire that was pulling him,” explained the actress, who currently stars on True Detective: Night Country, which is airing now on BINGE.

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The incident occurred on the set of the 1972 adventure movie Napoleon and Samantha, which also starred Johnny Whitaker. Picture: Alamy

Foster said the lion, which was a reformed circus animal, shook her inside his mouth. Picture: Alamy

“We finished the take and I was going up the hill and all I remember is I remember seeing his mane come around and then he picked me up sideways, and shook me in his mouth and turned me around,” she shared, much to the horror of fellow guest Olivia Coleman.

Jodie Foster currently stars on True Detective: Night Country, which is airing now Binge.

“And every single person on the crew was running in the opposite direction and I’m like sideways, watching everybody – and they took their equipment, too!

“And I’m watching everybody leave, going like, ‘What’s happening?’… I remember feeling like, ‘Oh it’s an earthquake!’ because I was getting shaken,” she added.

Foster seen here at a photocall in Paris on February 13, 2024. Picture: Joel Saget/AFP

“The trainer said ‘Drop it’ and because the lion was so well-trained he opened his mouth and dropped me down.”

“And I went running,” Foster said, gesticulating that she rolled down the hill. Although disciplined, the lion was not done with Foster.

“And then he came after me and then just put one paw on me and then just waited, like, ‘I got her!’” she said of the cat’s final action.

The film, which also stars Johnny Whitaker and Michael Douglas, was released in 1972.

This article originally appeared in Fox News and was reproduced with permission

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Originally published as Jodie Foster recalls terrifying moment on set when a lion ‘shook me in his mouth’