John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, has a new message for the actress nearly 45 years later. “I just wish Jodie Foster well, you know. Hinckley made headlines when he shot Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., in March 1981. “But I was believing those things at the time, so the best outcome would have been a union with Jodie Foster.” “The play happened in two weekends, and I did the first weekend, and in between the first weekend and the second weekend, John Hinckley shot the president.