Jodie Foster Recalls Moment She Found Herself in the Mouth of Lion

Jodie Foster is recounting a close encounter she had with a lion while on the set of the 1972 film "Napoleon and Samantha."

Foster was 9-years old when she appeared in the movie alongside a young Michael Douglas and Johnny Whitaker. The storyline follows two children as they take their pet lion on a journey rather than saying goodbye to it.

During an appearance on "The Graham Norton Show," the actor, 61, revealed that there were three lions on the set: the main lion, a stunt lion and a stand-in lion, the latter which she had the terrifying experience with.

"We finished a 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, shook me in his mouth and turned me around," Foster said, according to People.

"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.

"I'm watching everybody leave going, 'What's happening,'" Foster continued, adding that she remembers thinking it was an earthquake because she was shaking.

"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," she added.

However, the lion still "came after" her, putting "one paw on me and then just waited like 'I got her,'" she shared.

Foster has appeared on dozens of hit films but turned down one career-defining role that could have altered her career dramatically.

The two-time Oscar winner shared earlier this year that she was offered the role of Princess Leia in "Star Wars" while speaking with Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show," saying she turned down the part because she was locked into a contract for a Disney movie at the time, according to Variety, which theorized that the movie in question could have been 1976's "Freaky Friday," which was released a year before "Star Wars."

"They were going for a younger Princess Leia but I had a conflict," she said. "I was doing a Disney movie and I just didn't want to pull out of the Disney movie because I was already under contract."

The role of Princess Leia went to the late Carrie Fisher, who was 19 at the time of filming. Foster was 13 or 14 when she was offered the part.

"They did an amazing job," Foster said of Fisher, who died on Dec. 27, 2016 at age 60 after suffering a heart attack. "I don't know how good I would have been. I might have had different hair. I might have gone with a pineapple."

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