“I begged for the part”: the 1999 movie Angelina Jolie could only make with one actor’s blessing
Having been one of the most famous faces in Hollywood for the last two decades, it’s been a long time since Angelina Jolie has even had to audition for anything, never mind begging for a role.
She’s no doubt turned down plenty of offers, too, since the star has only appeared in six live-action movies in the last ten years. As Jon Voight’s daughter, Jolie was one of the highest-profile nepo babies of her generation before the term had even been coined, but she wanted to carve out her own path.
An admirable decision, if not the most straightforward one. An abysmal early outing in the equally abysmal Cyborg 2 didn’t get her off on the right foot, and it wasn’t until the release of Hackers that Jolie finally felt as if she was an actor, referring to the 1995 thriller as her first film, Cyborg 2 be damned.
Her Academy Award-winning performance in Girl, Interrupted put her on the cinematic map in a big way, and by also winning a Golden Globe for her searing turn as Lisa Rowe, Jolie became one of the few actors in history to win a Globe in three consecutive years, following on from her back-to-back wins in George Wallace and Gia in 1998 and 1999.
With an Oscar to her name, Jolie did what every other fast-rising star with a golden baldie to their name does and added a couple of shite blockbusters to her CV, although Gone in 60 Seconds and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider did at least make money. She’s officially cracked the A-list, but right before that happened, she was still in a position where she had to beg for work.
Girl, Interrupted premiered in December 1999, and six weeks previously, Phillip Noyce’s The Bone Collector had opened. Starring opposite Denzel Washington, Jolie’s rookie police officer, Amelia Donaghy, partners with the leading man’s quadriplegic detective to track down and capture a serial killer with multiple bodies to their name.
It was a hit, as most Washington-led thrillers tend to be, and the choice of co-star lay entirely in his hands. “I begged for the part of Amelia,” Jolie said at the time. “I just wanted it so badly. I loved who she was. She was very street, and there were a lot of questions about my accent, about how I’d dress.”
Still, no matter how much she wanted it or how good her audition was, it was up to Washington. “Denzel had to meet me,” she explained. “He had watched my films, and I was so nervous.” Jolie, who was in the midst of shooting Playing by Heart, “had this pink hairdo that was all spiked up,” which naturally made it a lot harder for everyone else in the room to envision her as a by-the-book cop.
“Here I was, trying to be like a lady, a cop and an adult,” Jolie reflected, but pink hair or not, she was still good enough to impress her more experienced prospective colleague. “He approved me, and I thought that said a lot.” With Washington’s OK, the begging was officially over, and the soon-to-be Oscar-winning actor had the part she so desperately wanted.
