Jodie Foster claimed Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro were “scared” of her when she was 12.
The 61-year-old actress - who began her career when she was just three years old - recalled how the legendary director and his frequent collaborator were intimidated by her and didn't know "what to do" with her when they were working on 'Taxi Driver' together.
She told W magazine: "I first worked with Martin Scorsese when I was about 10, on 'Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore'.
"By the time I was 12, I’d made a lot more films than De Niro or Scorsese. They were definitely scared of me: 'What do we do with this 12-year-old?'
"I was in my hot pants and corkies, or whatever those platform shoes were called."
The 'True Detective' actress struggled with her work in her late teens and early 20s but still kept taking on jobs because her mother warned her that her career would be "over" by the time she his 40.
She said: "The biggest transition was going from being a young person, to college, and then becoming an adult actor.
"The work that I did between 16 and 22 - that is the most awkward place.
"But my mom just kept telling me, 'By the time you're 40, you'll never work again, so you should work as much as you can now because by the time you're 40, you'll be over.' "
Although her fifties were an "awkard" time in her career, Jodie couldn't be happier with the way things are for her now.
She explained: "Now I've never been busier. The fifties are awkward, especially for an actress. People don't know what to do with you, and you don't know what to do with you.
"You're completely confused about what your relevance is in the world. You just keep trying to compete with your past and who you used to be.
"And suddenly, sixties, the perfect thing happens: At 60, you suddenly realise you don't care about all the things that you cared about in your fifties.
"You get to support other people because you know it's not your time. There's something about being the wise one in the room that it's just so much more fun."
