Jodie Foster Became BFFs With Bonnie Stoll After Playing Her In A Movie

Former child actor Jodie Foster has been an indelible fixture in American cinema for decades, starting off in a Coppertone commercial before working her way through TV and film. Foster's most notable movie roles include 1976's "Taxi Driver" with Robert DeNiro, "The Accused" (1988), "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), and "Contact" (1997), to name just a scant few.

In 2023, she starred in "Nyad," the real-life story of 60-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) who swam 100 miles from Cuba to Florida. In it, Foster portrays Bonnie Stoll, Nyad's swim coach who helped her train to swim the vast distance with nothing but her strength of will and wits. What made the story so compelling was that she had originally attempted the feat at age 28, and after realizing what her purpose in life was, Nyad did it again at age 60 and convinced Stoll to be her coach. Incredibly, she succeeded in her goal after swimming for 53 hours straight.

In the film, Stoll decides to drop Nyad following several failed attempts at the feat, but in reality, that wasn't the case. The trainer told USA Today in November 2023 that it was true they didn't work together for around five months, "But we'd see each other every day. She wasn't allowed to say, 'Bonnie please come help me again,' and I wasn't allowed to say, 'Diana don't do this.'" Offscreen, Foster and Stoll got super close too with the trainer gushing to People that "she's just the loveliest human being."

The husband-and-wife team of Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi directed "Nyad," and Vasarhelyi informed USA Today that the central conflict was exaggerated to make the movie more dramatic. She remarked, "Our film isn't about a record, it's about a woman who woke up at 60 and felt the world was done with her, but she wasn't done with the world." When stars Jodie Foster and Annette Bening were interviewed by Awards Radar, in November 2023, Bening confirmed that she fell in love with the script upon reading it. 

Further, when she heard Foster was attached she stated, "It was beyond. I feel so lucky. Jodie really makes the movie." Likewise, Bonnie Stoll and Diana Nyad's relationship was a "rich, interesting, you know, complicated part of the story. And then there's the swim which is really what puts them in the pressure cooker together." While the focus was the swimming, the friendship between the two was the crux of the story. 

According to People, Stoll was super excited when she learned that both Bening and Foster were going to be in the film. Foster went to her house to discuss the role, and Stoll enthused, "I can't sit still for the most part. Jodie came over. We sat outside for three hours straight. I never even thought about standing up. You know, 'What's your favorite food?' 'Oh, me too!' That kind of thing."

During Diana Nyad's 53-hour swim, she had a team that followed her in a boat offering support as well as providing food along the way. Her coach, Bonnie Stoll, elaborated to People that "Nyad" was "99% accurate" in portraying the events as they occurred IRL, as well as Nyad's tenacious nature. "She can be prickly. Diana definitely had that determination and tunnel vision," Stoll shared, adding that her drive to win and fortitude always shone through. 

Upon seeing the finished product, Stoll was pleased that her new friend Jodie Foster was so accurate in her portrayal. In fact, she admitted, "I thought it was myself up there. Every single person [who sees the movie], the first thing they'd say is, 'Boy did she nail you.'" The two have been friends ever since meeting for the first time, and they often watch football and play cards together — although Stoll always has to check Foster's score for errors.

Nyad fulfilled a lifelong goal by swimming from Cuba to Florida but she also had a dream come true when the athlete appeared on "Dancing with the Stars." However, Nyad quipped on "Good Morning America" that, "If the dance had gone on for 53 hours nonstop, I think I would have beat everybody." Sweetly, the film not only portrayed the deep friendship between Stoll and Nyad but also made Foster and Stoll become equally beloved pals as well.