Jodie Foster recalls ‘scariest thing' during her early days of filming

Jodie Foster is opening up about her most terrifying experience while filming.

The NYAD star, 63, recently sat down with W Magazine and talked about “many scars” she still carries from the horrifying attack by a lion on set. At that time the actress was only nine years old.

“I was mauled by a lion when I was eight-and-a-half or nine,” she recalled. “The lion picked me up, shook me around, moved me horizontally, and then dropped me. I had two perfect punctures on one side and then two perfect punctures on the other, on my hip. But as the years have gone on and we get bigger, you know, who even knows where they are anymore. They kind of just move around.”

The Silence of the Lambs actress recalled the incident happened after the shot was filmed.

“I was in shock, so I don’t really remember that much,” Foster said. “I remember the event. I saw his mane come forward and I had worked with the lions, but when he picked me up, he picked me up and then moved me sideways and shook me around. And so, as he turned me back and towards the whole camera crew, I saw the whole camera crew run — except sideways. So, I saw them running sideways, taking all their equipment with them, just like, running away from me.”

She further told the outlet that the animal’s trainer intervened the situation at right time and got everything covered, but still it’s one of the “scariest” thing happened during shooting that haunts her.

“I guess the trainer said, ‘Drop it,’ and the lion dropped me out of his mouth,” she recalled. “I think that was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me when I was making a movie. I’m not sure I had time for fear, honestly.”

The star said after recovering from the unsettling event, she still had to finish working with the same lion she had traumatic experience with.

Napolean and Samantha includes Johnny Whitaker and Michael Douglas, and followed two young children in the movie.