Jonathan Kaplan's "The Accused," a searing 1988 drama about a woman seeking justice after being gang raped in a roadside bar, was nearly a very different movie. Jodie Foster's character, Sarah Tobias, whose sexual assault is cheered on by numerous bar patrons, was initially intended to be a much more sympathetic figure. But Foster convinced Kaplan (the late director of the juvenile delinquent classic and Matt Dillon's first movie, "Over the Edge" ), along with the producing team of Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing, that Sarah should be less likable. The filmmakers relented, and Foster won her first Best Actress Oscar that year.

Foster's decision didn't just pay off awards-wise, it also added a layer of complexity to a standard-issue legal drama. Had Sarah been a sweet-natured woman wh

See Full Page