Angelina Jolie: Strong Character
By: Jordan Riefe |
Tuesday January 18, 2005 |
| Angelina Jolie played the ultra sexy Lara Croft, but now she's traded in her spandex for an eye patch as Frankie, a sky commander in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." |
| Here, Angelina Jolie talks about working on this very unusual project., being a world traveler and a parent, working with Oliver Stone on "Alexander," and playing a fish in "Shark Tale."
Jordan Riefe: How hard is it to play a character when all you're reacting to is blue screen? Angelina Jolie: Well, we play make-believe all the time. We're used to a fake room, a fake set, so it was a bit strange, but not as bad. I think Jude and Gwyneth had it worse cause they had things coming at them that they were freaking out about and I tended to-y'know, I had ships coming in behind me and things like that that I didn't see. Is it like childhood fantasy playing like that? Yes. There was one moment when I had the bubble on, the eye patch, and I was just sitting on a box. I wasn't in a plane, and I wasn't anywhere and there's this room full of a hundred people and I had my accent. I had to be very cool and I was just sitting on a cardboard box. I'm pretending that I'm hitting. At first it felt very silly. I think it's great to get back to what's fun about this business and be creative and try things that aren't safe and be silly again and be bold with choices. It was nice for that. It was refreshing. Do you have a back story about how she lost her eye? Were you at all involved with creating that look? She always had one eye. I loved that about her. We talked about a back story. I think the idea is if this works well, there will possibly be a prequel . Did you have problems working half blind? Yeah, a few things about. There's a kind of dizziness, an awkwardness when you're standing but also any time the other actors were talking to me they would come up and you can't see someone sneaking up behind you or to that side, so you'd end up being very turned around. At the end of the day you'd take it off and you'd have this "first thing in the morning" type eye. It was not that bad, but it was funny. What about working with the director? It was wonderful. He's a sweetheart. He's a lovely man and so you're so happy for him that he's been able to create this and it's going so well. He's so excited. I think he's been living with this and it was sitting in his head for so many years that he was thrilled seeing it finally come together. You said you lose the sense of fun making movies these days. How does that get lost? I think so much of things are analyzed and criticized and how much they do, whether it's the box office or whether it's reviewed this way. You tend to-there are those few great movies that are really pushing the-we're making it for the sake of really making something-- had the good fortune with "Alexander." Y'know, things don't feel safe. They don't feel like, 'Okay, this is that character, here are the main characters, here's a pretty solid story and there's a few little twists that make it interesting,' but that's it and you're not really taking our art form to a new level. You're not trying for something bold or different. You're kind of just staying-and it's because of the studios and because of how much the business of this industry has, I think, affected the art sometimes that we all get caught up in. So it's those rare few that push past or-y'know, you just try something or somehow raise the money or get people behind it to go, 'Okay, let's do something we're not sure of.' Do you prefer fantasy-type environments, or much more psychological or reality-based material? I loved doing "Alexander" and I think, as an actor, it's more fulfilling for your soul and as a woman and you can go through so m many different emotions and you can analyze yourself and the world and your relationships. So, when you're done with that film you feel like you've grown and changed. It will always be better. How did you like working with Oliver Stone and what did he teach you? You can disagree or agree with Oliver or where he's coming from, but you can't debate that he isn't a hundred percent who he is. He is who he is and he's coming very straight forward with that and so I appreciate that. He didn't allow anybody to be safe. If anything, he demands a certain kind of commitment and bravery and doesn't allow for anybody to kind of get too relaxed. He pushes things to just be more. He has lived very fully in his life. When he does films that deal with war and loss and love and pain and relationships, whatever it is, he's drawing from a very deep well. Can your son see "Sky Captain"? Yeah, yeah. You don't think it will be too intense? No, no. How do you feel about roles available to women in genre films today? Well, I've been very, very lucky. So I'm not the person to know what isn't out there. I 've also found films that could be one way and I think you can work to make them more. Do you know what I mean? I think that we can always kind of wish that there was more of something for different ethnicities for me or for women. But I think, y'know, we just all have to focus more on just trying to get a hold of a character and see if we can make it richer, make it deeper. And I have been very lucky with the women I've been able to play. What can you tell us about "Shark Tale"? I'm the bad fish. My mom actually said that, she said, "Why are you the bad fish, honey? I don't know why you're the bad fish, you're a good person." Yeah, it's an amazing process. To do an animated film is a very different experience. It's been years of kind of coming in. I think the first time I did it I came in trying to make voices. I hate my own voice. Like most people you listen to yourself on a phone or on an answering machine and you think, 'Ugh.' So to do something with just your voice… Did you change your voice at all? I wanted to. I felt safer changing my voice but they didn't let me. They wanted it to just be my voice. What's it like trying to provide the voice for a character you haven't seen? Well they'd made-when I was invited in to meet with them on "Shark Tale" they brought me into this room and there were all these different pictures of fish. And they were going to explain to me which fish was what they wanted me to do and I kind of looked around and I saw this fish that I could see Will doing and then I saw this fish with this big red mouth and pointy eyebrows and I thought, 'they can talk as long as they want. I know I'm that fish.' That was my fish. So I saw her immediately and I knew-and I liked her. She's a-it was kind of more just filling those shoes cause they made her a very sparkly, sexy, so yeah. So she came first, in my opinion. Are you considering playing Catherine the Great? I loved those historical characters, but I do think they need to be done right, which is why it's never been that I'm certainly doing that cause that one is-the more I've researched it, the more I think her story is very full and very deep. It needs to be done correctly. So I get nervous that they could be wrong. I take it kind of seriously, especially if it's a whole different country or a people's hero. To step into that and say, 'Okay, I'm going to be this woman that you revere or respect or like or dislike, but she's a part of your history.' I just take that more seriously. I want to make sure that it's how people see her, that it represents who she actually was. And so I-I'm fascinated by this kind of woman. Olympius was that kind of a woman in "Alexander." Not everybody's favorite woman, she was a bit dark. But I still wanted to try to respect who I thought she was. Does visiting places like that have an impact on the roles you choose? Sometimes. It's been more about time right now because he's so young. I think when he's older it's going to be more about the type of character maybe, but for now I was happy to do "Sky Captain" because I had three days and I was able to-y'know, if it was a month that's that much longer away from my son. I like the films now that I can be less in. Oliver Stone said he cast you because he thought you were a very strong woman. Where do you get that strength from? And will surprise audiences about "Alexander"? I think-God, well I think I just was raised from my mother to be very-just very honest and straightforward. And I don't-I don't judge people. I love people when they are exactly who they are and they're straightforward about it and they're coming at me with whatever that is. So I tend to be able to be that boldly cause I don't look down up on it but I'm not comfortable with the other, if that makes any sense. So I've been always very encouraged to be a hundred percent just whatever it is I am and who I am. As long as you don't hurt anybody just to be very straightforward in this life. And maybe because I have gone through, like we all have, different things, be it my parents or being a parent now or traveling the world and seeing that there's real pain and there's things to be very frightened and really scared of and really emotional about, and these other things that I live with on a daily basis are not those things. S o I tend to not be scared by things that are now just not as serious. Were there any times you experienced pain working with Oliver Stone on "Alexander"? It wasn't as much painful, he expected everything. You can't kind of come in and say, "I don't really feel like-I'm not sure of-I want to change this-give me a few minutes to get into this place." He wanted us all to live as our characters. He kept getting upset if I lost my accent when we would e out to dinner. He wanted to see everybody become who they were. But he would just test me. My first shot in the studio was I had this six-year-old Alexander, which was this little boy, the sweetest little boy. And I had to take and I had to sing, which I hate doing, with my accent, and hold this python and try to get the python around the boy's neck while I'm singing to him and convince him not to be afraid, which, on our first day…! And somehow he just expects nothing-and then it was getting really late and I had to switch snakes and pull the other ones out and they were getting kind of wild. And they said, "Y'know, it's nighttime and they think it's time to feed." And I said, "Y'know Oliver it's nighttime and apparently it's feeding time." And he was like, "Oh, just get in there!" Is all the travel you do on your down time to exotic countries a source of inspiration? Life inspires me, my son inspires me, I just want to live a very full life. I love making films and I'm very fortunate that I get to do them and I love being creative and exploring. But there was a time when I think I lived through my characters and I've now found that I prefer my life and that-y'know, I think most actors have that thing we wonder, 'God, I'd love to go do that film in the Sahara!' And you think, 'Why don't I just take my family and go across the Sahara and learn about those people and spend time.' So my focus in this life--I'd like to die feeling that I have been useful as a person and done as much as I could with my life and explored cultures and peoples and lands and raised a family. So that's all I want to do and in between that I have this wonderful job that I get to enjoy. |
