Jodie Foster has discussed her role in Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, Digital Spy reported.

The actress stars alongside Matt Damon in the upcoming sci-fi, which will be the second feature from District 9 helmer Blomkamp.

"I'm not very nice," Foster told Access Hollywood of her character, "but she has her point of view, and I think in some ways she's defending a sort of spiritual philosophy."

Elysium takes place in a future where the populace has become so divided that the rich now live in a luxurious space station, while the poor are trapped on a ruined, dilapidated Earth.

William Fichtner and Diego Luna star alongside Damon and Foster.

"It has a lot of sociopolitical commentary, and yet [Neill] likes guns too," Foster mused, "he likes blowing things up and shooting people, so that figures into it heavily as well.

"But it's thoughtful, it's a thoughtful movie, it's a movie that's on a huge scale and yet it talks about really small things too."