Angelina Jolie on the Today Show
This morning, The Today Show ran an interview with Matt Lauer and Angelina Jolie. As always, she was a total pleasure to listen to. She also answered the question many people have had since she now has an equal number of adopted children and biological children: Yes, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt plan to adopt again some day.
You can watch the video here:
Edited to add: While there were some loading issues earlier this morning, the video seems to play quite well now. Also, there were a few questions in the comments as to whether this was filmed live in New York or previously taped while Brad and Angelina were in New York the last time. Apparently, she did indeed fly back to New York to do the segment live as part of her promotional obligations for Changeling. Thanks to those of you who let me know!
Image used with permission: Newscom
More photos of Angelina Jolie below the cut.
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POSTED IN: Angelina Jolie, Angelina Jolie Pictures, Television, Video
63 opinions for Angelina Jolie on the Today Show
Hailly
Oct 16, 2008 at 8:42 am
Is she back in NYC??? Or did they tape this when they were here a while ago?
leila from Iran
Oct 16, 2008 at 8:54 am
I’m first!
She looks so beautiful as always.
I think it’s enough. they should adopt a little brother o sister for zahara. she is alone.
(by the way,Ligaya please answer my mails.)
Mary Ann
Oct 16, 2008 at 9:36 am
Sherry, thanks but for some reason it will not run in a timely manner. It keeps starting and stopping. I will try to see off of their website.
Phoebe
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:04 am
its so cute she looks as if she would start crying as she heard what nice things Clint said about her…thanks for the interview Sherry!
dhc
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:07 am
Sherry-
Do you know if Angelina and Brad are in NY, or if the show was pretaped?
Sherry
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:13 am
dhc - I could be wrong but it’s my understanding that this segment was pre-taped and not live. Brad and Angelina arrived back in Berlin with the kids several days ago so that they could be there for Brad to start filming.
Natasha
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:24 am
OMG! she does such great interviews. I watched it on People and had no problem with it uploading. Was this a live show or prerecorded because I thought they were back in France. I wonder when it took place. Maybe I will go to NBC and find out. As always she was gracious open and beautiful to watch. You could see the love on her face when she talks about the kids and Brad. She is always so articulate. Look at her she is gorgeous without a whole lot of makeup. Again Great interview.
niemiec idiota
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:25 am
i know they are not reliable, but yesterday (weds 15th oct) page six gossip website had a sighting of brad at a nyc restaurant eating with 2 friends, and i thought why would brad be back in new york?, but it looks like he came with angelina and maybe kids for this or these interviews angelina might have to do today for changeling.
Helen
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:27 am
NO, Today show interview was live, because if it would have been taped then the pictures would have come out when they were here 2 weeks ago. Jared posted new pictures that the paps took outside of the studio.
Sherry
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:29 am
Thanks for the info n.i. and Helen! They must be so tired with the back and forth flights!
niemiec idiota
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:36 am
yes they are proberly tired, but i think when brad and angelina flew into new york on th 3rd of october, after they finished in new orleans, brad had to do a couple of days filming in berlin, so angelina would of had to decide whether to wait in the u.s to do the TODAY show interview and be away from brad for a while, or go with brad back to berlin and then fly back to new york. nice they wanted to stay together.
czechjoyce
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:45 am
Does anyone know if she is expected to be on any more programs? Generally when the stars promote their movies you’ll see them on several shows within a day or so. The Today show also was to feature Jon Voight for the film Pride and Glory but I only tuned in for the segment on Angelina. Hope it didn’t create an awkward situation for her. Definitely made a wonderful start to my day to see her live first thing this morning!
CHRISTY
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:30 am
I watch the interview so sweet her eyes so watery full of life, not sad, I love how she think before she answers,or say I don’t want to embrass myself, when talking about she is better alone, her reply was so sweet I don’t want to be without him right now, how loving. Thanks sherry for getting that video so quickly. There so much camera behind her as she was being interviewed.
angela
Oct 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm
i watched the show this morning eventhough i was still sleepy. :)
i love the part where she kinda said that she doesn’t want to live without brad or something like that.
i just hope that if ever they’re going to adopt, i hope it’s not soon yet because the twins still needs full attention. :)
Helen
Oct 16, 2008 at 12:12 pm
No, they won’t adopt until next year because Angie says that the little ones have to be at least 6 months before they can start the process. Remember that the twins will be 6 months in January : ). Besides, the children are bonding as much as possible with the twins so that when the new addition comes, everyone is settled and can welcome her/him.
Sherry
Oct 16, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Also, don’t forget that in a lot of countries it can take quite some time for the adoption to process. If they file for adoption when the twins are six months but it takes another year for it all to be finalized, the babies will be a year and a half or so by the time the new one comes home.
Natasha
Oct 16, 2008 at 12:52 pm
That’s what I was thinking. The adoption process does not happen overnight. We’ll just have to be impatient and wait and see:)
yoco
Oct 16, 2008 at 2:46 pm
According to someone on JJ Angie and Clint are doing an interview with Charlie Rose today
yoco
Oct 16, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Also W is already on the newstands in NY per JJ so start checking with your local newstands in the next couple of days
Helen
Oct 16, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Ohh snap, I am from NYC…Going to the bookstore now.
Lara
Oct 16, 2008 at 3:21 pm
God, she has such a serene beauty in this video. So peaceful, so lovely. Everytime I see her it seems that she is more beautiful than the previous time. She almost said “in love”, but she stopped :))
isacutie
Oct 16, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Angie looks great, and I love the way she talks about Brad and the kids. They must really have the “big family” concept down pat to be planning already for the next adoption. :) I wish them all the best.
Ligaya
Oct 16, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Lucy, I’m so sorry to hear your mother passed away. My condolences and prayers to you and your family.
CHANGELING ALERT:
HBO will have “First Look: Changeling” on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 7:15pm ET/PT, 6:15pm CT. On my Dish satellite HBO’s various channels start at 300. “First Look” is usually airs several times on HBO’s different channels. It’s a behind the scenes look on set on the shoot, new & different mini-interviews with Clintalina.
Ligaya
Oct 16, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Hi, Leila,
I answered your emails, they got returned to me with the note that you didn’t have an account with yahoo. I found another e-address for you that I hope will work.
I posted two previous messages to you on Pittwatch. Did you see them? PLEASE READ MY MESSAGES TO YOU ON PITTWATCH. I’m sure this is as frustrating for you as it is for me.
I CANNOT DO ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER NOVEMBER 4, election day. We have an election in less than 2 weeks - not just presidential, but in California there’s a repressive measure to take away gay/lesbian people’s right to marry. Every day is taken up with working on the election - phone calls, emails, etc. Plus my immediate family has 5 birthdays, 1 death anniversary, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas - all take up lots of time.
I hope you understand.
Ligaya
Oct 16, 2008 at 7:00 pm
UNDER MOD:
Hi, Leila,
I answered your emails, they got returned to me with the note that you didn’t have an account with yahoo. I found another e-address for you that I hope will work. . .
Lili May
Oct 16, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Thank you Sherry for the video. I had an early meeting this morning so I did not get the chance to watch the Today show. I just love this interview and Angie looks great.
Lucy, I am very sorry to hear about your mother passing away. My condolences to you and your family.
Ligaya
Oct 16, 2008 at 8:15 pm
So, over half of Matt Lauer’s interview was about Changeling, right? So Access Hollywood puts out a report about the interview, and just runs what Angelina said about planning to adopt another kid (leaving out the fact that it’s not going to happen anytime soon). Also leaving out that BRAD and Angelina planned this together.
So anyone reading or hearing this report will say there’s Angelina pimping her kids again - always talking about her family and complaining about privacy at the same time.
Ligaya
Oct 16, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I loved the interview – fantastic. Matt Lauer did a good job, and he asked a lot of questions tactfully that have been asked in critical and insulting ways before: the contradiction of her humanitarian work among poor people with their privileged status and lifestyle, staying in one place for a long time with the children, where home is, etc. I liked his questions like whether Brad and she were simpatico about the kids all the time. The best part was when she was talking about the values they’re teaching the kids.
I loved how Angie looked: lovely, simple & elegant, hair not perfect, understated makeup. She looks great in everything, I’m really liking the below the knee to mid-calf length of her RC sarong-dress and the dress she wore today.
bradpittwantsme
Oct 16, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Best part of this interview is how she expressed her love toward Brad (MY Brad!) and said she didn’t want to be without him. It’s about time we heard something like that. It is always about the kids and being a romantic at heart, I want to hear more about them. *still waiting for a wedding and getting a bit impatient.*
deborah
Oct 17, 2008 at 2:54 am
beautiful interview! she seemed very comfortable with all questions not the “omg another interview” look some can get. her and brad always have great interviews, seemingly open yet still withhold the very private and intimate details close to the heart, has it should be. she has become a amazingly beautiful women that just improves with time. must be love and motherhood.
Kati
Oct 17, 2008 at 3:59 am
Wonderful interview. She speaks so war,ly about Brad and their children. But the adoption thing makes me wonder. Ia it really wise to adopt now that the tqins are so small? However, the twins have to be six months old before the new adoption process can even begin. And the process can take months so Knox and Viv will be old enough to welcome the new baby - whenever that is. God bless the JP family!
margaritam
Oct 17, 2008 at 6:07 am
I agree with you Ligaya, she mostly talked about her movie but media only interested with her personal life answers. Did she say anything new about personal life? No. Is it her fault? No. But people love to blame her for everything.
Angelina didn’t say ”We will certainly start to adoption process when the twins will be 6 months”. Also, she said W magazine interview and New York Times interviews ”We want to have at least one more child”. Brad&Angelina always say they want at least ”7” children. I don’t understand ”why Angie’s answer was a big headline in the media yesterday”. Everybody knows her answer.
angela
Oct 17, 2008 at 7:18 am
Lucy, i’m sorry to hear about your loss.
i love her dress in that interview.
i’ve checked our local newspaper and Changeling opens on the 31st. :(
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 9:34 am
I’m really excited about this 8 minute B-Roll of behind the scenes footage. OMG, Changeling is not just about Christine Collins, there are rooftop chases, murders, a whole line of people machine-gunned by the corrupt police. I really wish the trailers had included some of those and Christine’s quieter moments like with her son at the beginning of the B-roll. I think the trailers over-emphasized Christine’s most impassioned moments. Some of the bad raps come from a few legit movie bloggers: one review said the whole movie was nothing but Angelina screaming, somebody else (sproutblog?) suggested making a drinking game out of it. Some repeated the oft-said comment that Angelina isn’t acting, she’s just playing herself over and over again in Gia, Girl,Interrupted, A Mighty Heart and now, Changeling. But like Cee asked, we can do something to stop the bad buzz from pushing aside the great Oscar buzz..
Other things I liked in the B-Roll: seeing how Clint,one-half of Clintilina, directed the other half, John Malkovich and others; the numbers of people and machinery it takes to make a movie, the track, camera/sound/light men, and the pan from L.A.’s highrise buildings to the set dressed up to be the 1930s.
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00019038.html
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 9:50 am
Randi at BradPittWatch has some great new shots from the W photospread - I guess some of her fans in NY got hold of the magazine and scanned them.
I’d love to see the whole photoshoot in an art gallery. To me, half of the photos are about their sweet family, the other half with Angelina only are almost like an art shoot for a fashion magazine.
dhc
Oct 17, 2008 at 11:24 am
I saw the W shots on the above noted website. If you look at them closely, two of them are extremely revealing. The “breastfeeding photo” reveals nothing by comparison. I’m sure for them it was all about art, but I was a bit surprised. Also, I read an article from ABC News (not sure if/when it was televised) with Angelina and Clint Eastwood that was just plain out cute. Seems unusual for either of them to get playful during an interview, so I suspect they really have a special relationship. She actually suggests she got pregnant with the twins on the set of the movie, or that’s how I took it.
Finally, I suspect they will adopt another toddler next-to fit between Shiloh and the twins. Just speculating. Maybe even an immigrant child in California, since Angelina is now a spokeswoman for an organization to represent these children legally who have been separated from their guardians during attempts to enter the US.
Neela
Oct 17, 2008 at 11:41 am
dhc,
I heard that Clint almost sees/treats Angie as his own daughter. I think that’s really good, and I heard he’s a nice guy. Heh. This is off-topic, and I don’t mean to brag (k, just a wee bit ;), but my best friend’s dad had actually played golf with Clint just once. Apparently, Clint was a very cool guy. It was one of those fluke meetings at a golf course up in Shasta. I guess Clint owns (or owned) a home up there. The town’s great.
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 12:21 pm
http://www.laineygossip.com/First_look_at_Brad_Pitt_as_Aldo_Raine_in_Inglorious_Bastards_.aspx?IsMicro=0
ROWRRR! Lainey’s got the first pic of Brad as Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds (spelling change). Actually it’s from tarantino.info but that’s loading ultra-slowly. There are links for pics released last week too. Looks like this is a good site to keep up to date on Brad’s latest movie.
If I met Brad aka Aldo Raine in the forest, I’d pull him down to the ground. ;-)
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 12:22 pm
UNDER MOD:
ROWRRR! Lainey’s got the first pic of Brad as Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds (spelling change). . .
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 12:47 pm
More on our favourite actor (don’t remember if I posted these already):
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Story?id=6033866&page=1
Philanthropist, Photog, Politician, Actor: Who Is Brad Pitt?
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994174.html?categoryid=10&cs=1
Brad Pitt joins WB for ‘Odyssey’
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 12:49 pm
UNDER MOD:
More on our favourite actor (don’t remember if I posted these already) . . .
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 1:02 pm
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-10-15-angelina-clint_N.htm
Can’t find the ABC News article dhc mentioned, but here’s a USA Today interview with Clintalina that’s very similar. Angelina confirms that she did get pregnant on the shoot (Clint reacts with mock horror) but she won’t tell him which scene.
Neela, I read about that father/daughter relationship too - can’t remember where.
Ligaya
Oct 17, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I hope Brad and Angelina adopt an immigrant child too, dhc. Here’s the article about the partnership between Microsoft and Angelina (aka Microlina).
I don’t know if Microsoft recruited Angelina or the other way around. She’s been working on something like this for years. She got a bill passed in Congress but no money was provided to carry it out. I think she co-founded and is on the board of an organization to achieve these goals, and funded it for its first couple of years. Maybe KIND and Angelina’s organization will coordinate their work.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/151732.asp
The initiative — known as KIND, or Kids In Need of Defense . . .
Neela
Oct 17, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Ligaya, I read it from Lainey maybe a couple of weeks ago.
Debra77
Oct 17, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I think that she and Clint really hit it off. He seems like a father figure to her. I love how she spoke about the twins being conceived on the set. i guess she and Brad have to find time wher they find it. i wonder if any of the crew heard or saw anything. It must really hurt Jon V. to hear and see how close she is to another man. A part of me feels really sorry for him, and another part thinks he should never have written that ugly letter. I don’t know if Clint had this type of relationship with Hilary Swank. She made 2 outstanding movies with him. I was wondering if anyone knows what other shows if any she will be on. Also I saw the pics of Brad… I have to say he looks ooh so good. I mean the man knows how to pose. I loved the way he stands and holds his body. Oh Angie and Brad are both wearing these rings on their right hand. Angie’s usually does not wear a lot of jewelry. She and he have been sporting these rings for a while.
Last i just can’t say enough how much i love this couple.
Chany
Oct 18, 2008 at 12:48 am
What a fab interview, thanks sherry xx
This woman is so beautiful, inside & out! Brad & Angelina and the Pitt Clan are amazing. God Bless them and ALL thier fans.
Victoria
Oct 18, 2008 at 5:46 am
What I find sweet is how Angie almost “gushes” about her new babies - she´s so in love with them, whereas when it Shiloh was born, she was so restrained in her comments about her. Maybe she was only getting used to having biological children then, or my guess is she didn´t dare to gush too openly about her, instead rather down-play her, so that people wouldn´t think she now prefers her bio child over her adopted children. However, that tactic backfired totally, as we all know. So, it is very refreshing to hear her talk so lovingly about her new children.
Jacqueline
Oct 18, 2008 at 5:46 am
Sherry, this is so beautiful, thanks so very much.
Motherhood becomes Angelina; she’s so warm, caring, serene, full of compassion & sympathies. As she and Brad have said before - it’s good to think outside of themselves (I think I read Brad say he was sick of thinking about himself).
I think one of the reasons we love the Jolie-Pitts is because of their seemingly goodness - we like to support that and identify with those morals. I’m so happy for them - why shouldn’t Angelina state how lucky she feels, I know I would and do.
Joke
Oct 18, 2008 at 5:00 pm
she didn’t told she got pregnant on set. she told she got pregnant during filming,and in another interview she told she found out about it during those hard scenes in hospital. she didn’t told she got pregnant on set.
Ligaya
Oct 20, 2008 at 12:16 pm
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/angelina-jolie-and-darfur/
Angelina Jolie and Darfur
________________________________________ By Nicholas Kristof, 2-time Pulitzer winner
October 20, 2008, 12:35 pm
The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s new website, has a slightly snarky essay about Angelina Jolie titled, “She’s Actually Smart.” It’s based on her comments at the Council on Foreign Relations on Friday beginning a panel discussion that I was on.
Well, of course she’s smart. I find the snarkiness condescending, a reflection of the general snobbiness in the humanitarian community about celebrities trying to do good work. The assumption is that if the tabloids have an interest in who someone might be sleeping with, that person is an airhead.
In fact, of course, there are smart celebrities and dumb ones; there are those who try to rehabilitate a sullied image by feigning an interest in AIDS or poverty, and there are those who genuinely care.
There needn’t be any pejorative presumption about a celebrity’s intellect or commitment just because he or she is a great actor. And on the whole, the celebrity interest in Africa and global poverty has been a terrific thing, and there are lots of people alive today because of their involvement.
Some of them also really know what they’re talking about. Bono knows G-8 poverty policy issues better than I do. Mia Farrow beat the news media in getting good photographs of the Janjaweed in Darfur. Ashley Judd has been to rural Bihar, India, to learn about sex trafficking. Ben Affleck knows Congo and South Sudan inside out. And Angelina Jolie has traveled and visited with refugees and desperate people all over, including three trips to the greater Darfur area, if I remember right. That’s two more trips than Condi Rice has made.
(Note to stars out there looking for good causes: one of the great issues that is sitting out there, unclaimed, is maternal mortality — the half million women each year who die in childbirth simply because they are poor, rural and female. Oprah Winfrey has tackled maternal health at the edges, in Ethiopia, but it’s a vast problem that never gets adequate attention. So grab it!)
One of the perennial problems for humanitarian crises is that no one pays attention, and so these crises never get resources. That’s partly a problem of the news media, especially television, and partly a problem of politicians who just aren’t interested in distant problems that don’t have quick-fix solutions. But celebrities carry a spotlight with them, and if they can use some of that glow to highlight the needs of Darfur, Congo or Chad, that saves lives.
Frankly, if a celebrity isn’t genuinely interested in these issues and is simply trying to get good press, there are better ways to do it. Traveling to Darfur or Congo is dangerous, expensive and uncomfortable. But a celebrity can get public attention in a way that no one else can.
I once was on a panel where Angelina’s eyes filled up as she spoke of Iraqi refugees she had met in Syria; for anybody who was there, that scene was worth 100 of my columns. And ditto for her speech on Friday at the Council on Foreign Relations.
So let’s lay off the snarkiness. Until we have an administration that cares about these issues, we have to accept moral leadership where we can find it — and that includes celebrities who care.
Ligaya
Oct 20, 2008 at 12:19 pm
UNDER MOD: Angelina Jolie and Darfur
________________________________________ By Nicholas Kristof, 2-time Pulitzer Prize winner, New York Times
. . . I once was on a panel where Angelina’s eyes filled up as she spoke of Iraqi refugees she had met in Syria; for anybody who was there, that scene was worth 100 of my columns. . . .
Ligaya
Oct 20, 2008 at 1:11 pm
The Jolie-Pitt Foundation sponsored an international law & justice symposium a the Council on Foreign Relations. These are excerpts from Angelina’s kickass speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bS7cwgVZH4
Ligaya
Oct 20, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Not as bad as I was afraid it would be -
http://thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-19/shes-actually-smart/
“She’s Actually Smart”
Ligaya
Oct 20, 2008 at 2:07 pm
***CORRECTION*** & REMINDER -
CHANGELING ALERT:
HBO will have “First Look: Changeling” TOMORROW, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2008.
HBO-W 7:15 pm PT
HBO-E 4:15 pm PT.
On my Dish satellite HBO’s various channels start at 300.
“First Look” is usually airs several times on HBO’s different channels. It’s a behind the scenes look on set on the shoot, new & different mini-interviews with Clintalina.
Gaverna
Oct 20, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Coming out of lurking to say how beautiful angie is.
I am from Australia and one of morning show this morning have a segment about how to safe proof your marriage from cheating husband and they actually use Brad and Angelina, stating that Angelina has mentioned during her interview ( this exact i/view w matt lauer) how she fall in love with Brad during filming Mr and Mrs Smith, which is when Brad was still married to Jen A, therefore brad wash cheating…
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was so angry …. just feel like ranting about this stupid rags magazine and tv show which only take litttle bits info and use if for headlines to attract viewer huh!!!!!!!
anyway, i can’t wait till the W mag come to oz.
Ligaya
Oct 20, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I’m pleading with all Jolie-Pitt fans to attend the 1st weekend in your city, even if you usually don’t go to the theater at all. The industry and viewers in general gauge a movie’s (and by extension, its stars’) success by the 1st weekend grosses. Gone are the days when a movie could stay for months or even over a year in the theaters – now movies are gone in a week if they don’t perform up to expectations.
Success breeds success and good B.O. numbers & word-of-mouth make people more interested in going.
I think it was Cee who asked what we fans could do besides not buy the tabs. We can go to see Angie’s movies – one of the best ways to make the h8ters shut up temporarily is quote her per movie grosses and her lifetime gross. Those are numbers they can’t refute. They prove Angelina’s popularity and clout. Angelina’s lifetime grosses = (24 films) $1,191,365,852. That’s $1.2 BILLION. (All figures from boxofficemojo.)
Oscar analysts said a better AMH B.O. could have been the tipping point for Angie’s Oscar nomination. The Academy likes arty stuff – but with financial success.
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 6:54 am
Excerpts from new interview with critic Peter Travers (I think with Rolling Stone) for ABC News:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=6057325&page=1
Asked how she shields her six-pack from the pop culture, of which she is a part, Jolie said: “The important thing is you can only censor so much,” she said.
“They’ll find things. They’ll find it at a friend’s house. You’ve got to make sure they get enough good stuff and nice stories and good messages at home and got some purity to it. But I think it’s also making sure they have a life outside all that pop culture and making sure they travel and see the world, they go outside enough and play dress up, and do all those things children should be doing so they get balance, so their mind is balanced,” she said.
When they asked him how he felt about working with Jolie, who had expressed an interest in the script, Eastwood said, “I feel great about it. I’m a big admirer of hers. I think she’s terrific, and after working with her I realize it’s super terrific,” Eastwood told Travers.
The feeling was mutual. “I got the phone call that he was, he was definitely going to do it and was OK with me doing it and I was jumping around the house,” Jolie said. “It was like getting my first job, I was thrilled. And it was everything and more that I hoped it would be as an experience.”
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 4:10 pm
It’s been a while, as a reminder here are a few raves from Cannes to start with (compare these to the hatchet jobs I’ll post later):
‘THE EXCHANGE’ RAVE REVIEWS
Author: Sasha Stone http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=345#comments
20 MAY 2008
Thanks to a tip from a reader, The Changeling has changed its name to “The Exchange,” according to Screen Daily.
Variety’s Todd McCarthy gives it high praise, “emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed”:
A dozen filmmakers could have taken a dozen different approaches to the same material — sensationalistic, melodramatic, expose-minded, a kid’s or killer’s p.o.v., and so on. Perhaps the best way to describe Eastwood’s approach is that he’s extremely attentive — to the central elements of the story, to be sure (with its echoes of “A Perfect World”), but also to the fluidity between the private and the public, the arbitrariness of life and death, the distinct ways different people view the same thing, the destructive behavior of some adults toward children and the quality of life in California around the time he was born.
And Cinematical says:
Clint Eastwood’s Changeling (which may or may not be now known as The Exchange), is a riveting drama about a missing boy and the undying constancy of a mother’s love. Angelina Jolie excels in a powerful performance as Christine Collins, whose nine-year-old son, Walter, disappeared in 1928. Five months later, police returned to her a boy they said was Walter; Christine alleged that the boy was not her son.
And Richard Corliss of TIME says:
Changeling is an epic, fact-based story — depicting sadistic, systematic corruption in the municipal government, the police department and the medical establishment of 1920s Los Angeles — that has the novelty of being virtually unknown today. It juggles elements of L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, The Snake Pit and any number of serial-killer thrillers. But at its center are the heartache and heroic resolve of a woman who has lost the one person she loves most and is determined to find him, dead or alive, against all obstacles the authorities place in her way. In that sense the movie is a companion piece to last year’s Cannes entry A Mighty Heart, in which Jolie played the wife of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl — except that Changeling is far more taut, twisty and compelling.
He closes his rave this way:
With flaring red lipstick on a face that hasn’t seen much time in the California sun, and with a grieving matched in severity only by her will to learn the truth, Jolie carries the burden of the first hour. As the story expands, and finds new avenues of real-life horror, Jolie can coast on the narrative instead of having to push it with her grit and tears. The movie becomes an ensemble piece, with a dozen or so character actors carrying the storyline. In other words, Changeling is exactly as good as its makings. By the end, with its purposeful accumulation of depravities, both individual and institutional, Eastwood’s non-style has paid off; the story’s weight could come close to burying you in despair.
You may ask: There’s that much evil in the world? And Clint, thinking more about storytelling craft than Cannes crockery, would say, Sure. But there are heroes too. And this time, the righteous gunslinger is a mom with no weapon but her inexhaustible love.
Well, here you go, folks. A true Best Picture contender out of Cannes.
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 4:12 pm
UNDER MOD:
It’s been a while, as a reminder here are a few raves from Cannes to start with (compare these to the hatchet jobs I’ll post later):
‘THE EXCHANGE’ RAVE REVIEWS
Author: Sasha Stone
http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=345#comments
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 6:23 pm
FUN FACTS
• Angelina had to learn to roller skate while wearing high heels for scenes at the telephone exchange, a documented practice of the period.
• Eastwood sometimes asked Jolie to play a scene quietly, as if just for him. At the same time he would ask his cameraman to start filming discreetly, without Jolie’s seeing it. Some of these takes made it into the completed film.
• Amy Ryan cited the filming of a fight scene during which Eastwood showed her “how to throw a movie punch” as her favorite moment of the production.
• “One day we were shooting a scene where [Collins and Briegleb] talk about her case… We started shooting at 9:30 a.m. and it was seven or eight pages, which is usually an 18-hour day. Around 2:30, [Eastwood] goes, ‘That’s lunch and that’s a wrap.’… I’ve made close to 100 films now and that’s certainly a phrase I’ve never heard in my entire life.” —John Malkovich discusses Eastwood’s famously economical directorial style, which extended to Changeling’s set.
• To ensure the veracity of the story, writer Straczynski incorporated quotes from the historical record and direct testimony directly into the script.
• The film was still in post-production one week before the start of the Cannes Film Festival. [This is very common with festival selections; at Toronto, I saw a movie that was finished on a Wednesday and screened on Sunday.]
• Local connection: Killer’s mother who was his accomplice was given a life sentence, served at San Quentin Prison.
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 6:24 pm
UNDER MOD:
CHANGELING FUN FACTS
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Wikipedia’s review roundup – an objective summary of Changeling’s pluses/minuses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changeling_(2008_film)#cite_note-newsblaze-33
The film’s screening at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival was met with largely positive reviews, prompting speculation it could be awarded the Palme d’Or.[44] The award eventually went to Entre les murs (”The Class”).[45]
“Jolie puts on a powerful emotional display as a tenacious woman who gathers strength from the forces that oppose her. She reminds us that there is nothing so fierce as a mother protecting her cub.” —Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter on Jolie’s performance.
Todd McCarthy of Variety praised Jolie’s acting as “top-notch”. He said she was more affecting than in A Mighty Heart (2007) due to her relying less on artifice. McCarthy also noted a surfeit of good supporting performances, singling out Michael Kelly in particular.
Oliver Séguret of Libération said the cast was the best aspect of the film. He had praise for the “magnetic” performances of the supporting actors and called Jolie “intense but discreet… beautiful but never dazzling”.
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter also praised Jolie, saying she shunned her “movie star” persona to appear both vulnerable and resolute at the same time. Honeycutt noted that with the exception of Amy Ryan’s character, the supporting characters had few shades of gray.
David Ansen writing in Newsweek agreed that they could be easily sorted as “black or white”, but that “some stories really are about the good guys and the bad”. He said that when the distractions of Jolie’s celebrity and attractiveness were put aside, she carried the role with “admirable restraint” and “slow burning ferocity”.
David Denby of The New Yorker said that while Jolie’s acting was “skilled and selfless”, the performance and character were uninteresting. He said Collins was one-dimensional, lacking desires or temperament. He cited similar problems with Malkovich’s “uncomplicated” and “impersonal” Briegleb, concluding, “The two of them make a very proper and dull pair of collaborators.”
McCarthy expressed admiration for the “outstanding” script, which he said was ambitious and deceptively simple. He praised Eastwood’s respecting the script through not playing up to the melodramatic aspects of the story, and not telegraphing its eventual scope at the start.
Honeycutt wrote that due to Changeling’s close adherence to the true-life facts of the case, the drama sagged at one point, but that the film didn’t feel as long as its 141 minutes, as the filmmakers were “good at cutting to the chase”
Ansen said Straczynski’s dialogue tended to the obvious, but that while it lacked some of the moral nuance of Eastwood’s other films, the “copiously researched” screenplay as a whole was “a model of sturdy architecture”, each layer of which built audience disgust into a “fine fury”. He said, “when the tale is this gripping, why resist the moral outrage?”
Séguret said that while Eastwood proved he was capable behind the camera, and had presented a solid recreation of the era, he never felt the director was inspired by the challenge the reconstruction posed. Séguret noted that Eastwood kept the embers of the story alight, but that it seldom burst into flames. He said the effect was like placing the audience in the position of a passenger in a limousine with all the options and air conditioning on: comfortable but a little boring.
Denby and Ansen commented that Eastwood left the worst atrocities to audiences’ imaginations. Ansen said this was because Eastwood was less interested in the lurid aspects of the case, and McCarthy praised the more thoughtful than sensationalist treatment.
Denby cited problems with the austere approach, saying it left the film “both impressive and monotonous”. He said Eastwood was presented with the problem of not wanting to exploit the “gruesome” material because this would contrast poorly with the delicate emotions of a woman’s longing for her missing son. He said that Eastwood and Straczynski should have explored more deeply the perverse aspects of the case. Instead, he said, the story played out by methodically settling the emotional and dramatic issues, “reverently chronicling Christine’s apotheosis”, before “[ambling] on for another forty minutes”.
Ansen said the film’s classical approach lifted the story to another level, and that it only embraced horror film conventions while on its way to transcending them.
McCarthy said Changeling was one of Eastwood’s most vividly realised films, citing Stern’s cinematography, the set and costume design, and CGI landscapes that merged seamlessly with the location shots.
Damon Wise of Empire called Changeling “flawless”, and McCarthy said it was “Emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed”. He maintained that Changeling was a more complex and wide-ranging work than Mystic River, Eastwood’s 2003 entry at Cannes, and stated that the characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an “almost breathtaking deliberation, as dramatic force and artistic substance steadily mount”. He said that as “a sorrowful critique of the city’s political culture”, Changeling sat in the company of films such as Chinatown and L.A. Confidential.
Honeycutt said that the film added a “forgotten chapter to the L.A. noir” of those films, and that Eastwood’s “melodic” score contributed to an evocation of a city and a period “undergoing galvanic changes”. Honeycutt said that “[the] small-town feel to the street and sets… captures a society resistant to seeing what is really going on”.
Séguret said that while Changeling had no obvious defects, it was “perplexing” that other critics had such effusive praise for the film, and Denby said that it was beautifully made, but that it shared the chief fault of other “righteously indignant” films in its congratulating the audience for feeling contempt for the “long-discredited” attitudes depicted.
Ansen concluded that the story was told in such a sure manner that “only a very hardened cynic” would be left unmoved by the “haunting, sorrowful saga.”
Ligaya
Oct 21, 2008 at 7:06 pm
UNDER MOD:
Wikipedia’s review roundup – an objective summary of Changeling’s pluses/minuses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changeling_(2008_film)#cite_note-newsblaze-33
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