Despite being a warm and thoughtful conversationalist, Christopher Eccleston’s on-screen presence often conveyed fear, suspicion, and rising panic. This anxiety fueled performances in films like Let Him Have It, depicting a real-life miscarriage of justice, and manifested in various roles such as the paranoid character in Shallow Grave and the reborn Christ in The Second Coming. However, it appears he had a terrible first meeting with his childhood crush.
From his portrayal of the ninth Doctor in Doctor Who to embodying Malekith the Accursed in Thor: The Dark World, Eccleston’s performances have been marked by a palpable sense of urgency, angst, and wounded malevolence. Nonetheless, he also had some awkward scenes during his acting career.
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Christopher Eccleston Had A Longstanding Crush On Jodie Foster Since His Childhood
While speaking to The Independent, Christopher Eccleston revealed that he harbored a crush on 60-year-old Foster since they were both around 11 years old. In the 1970s in Salford, Eccleston, sitting in front of the TV, was captivated by Foster not for any specific character she portrayed, but for her own remarkable qualities as a dazzling and confident young actor.
“I saw her interviewed on the set of Bugsy Malone when she was 11,” he recalls, “and I remember being stunned by her articulacy and her self-possession as well as her beauty. It was a total emotional, intellectual, artistic crush. I followed everything she did from then on.”
Reflecting on this admiration, Eccleston recalls being stunned by Foster’s articulacy, self-possession, and beauty when he saw her interviewed on the set of Bugsy Malone at the age of 11. This admiration turned into a total emotional, intellectual, and artistic crush, leading him to follow everything she did thereafter.
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Christopher Eccleston’s First Meeting With His Childhood Crush Went Horribly Wrong
Eccleston’s initial meeting with Jodie Foster took an unexpected turn when discussing their first s*x scene. Eccleston, attempting to be nonchalant, unintentionally broke a table, leading to a humorous moment of laughter. This incident created an instant connection, understanding, and eased any tension for their intimate scenes.
“We got together to discuss our first s*x scene and, trying to be oh-so-nonchalant, I leant back on what I thought was a sturdy table, and it broke in two. I’d only been in the room for two minutes, and there I was, laying on my back, surrounded by shards of wood… and the three of us – me, Jodie and Issa – just started laughing. We took a photograph in the debris, and we didn’t have to rehearse any more, because in laughing so hysterically we’d understood we had the same approach to things and it was plain sailing from there.”
Despite engaging in s*x scenes with his childhood crush Jodie Foster, Eccleston wasn’t nervous, citing his extensive experience with such scenes. However, he highlighted the importance of intimacy coordinators in the industry, not only for protection but for creative collaboration in portraying scenes realistically. Eccleston and Foster, having both gone through challenging s*x scenes in the past, appreciated the support of an intimacy coordinator.
“No, no, not at all,” he says. “I’ve done so many s*x scenes over the years. But this was, I think, only my second time working on a show with an intimacy coordinator. Those are a wonderful innovation in the industry. Not just because it protects people, but to creatively decide how a scene should be played. If I were a writer, that would be very important to me – because the way people have s*x is how they communicate.”
This was certainly an amusing story shared by Christopher Eccleston. Thankfully, things worked out in the end and the two were able to properly perform their scenes without any sort of issues whatsoever.
