The only movie of her career that Angelina Jolie “enjoyed watching”
What do Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Emma Stone, and Andrew Garfield have in common? Not a single one of them watches their own movies.
Just like how excruciating it can be looking back on something you did when you were younger, many actors find it difficult to watch themselves on screen because of how unnatural it feels, and those who are perfectionists are especially prone to cringing at themselves, damn-near unable to stop the urge to pick apart everything they’d have probably done differently if they had the chance to do it again.
For some, like Depp, it’s a matter of artistic responsibility, and his job on a project is merely that of the actor – it’s neither here nor there if he watches the finished product. And given his tendency to second-guess himself, he prefers to stay far away. As he explained, “In a way, you know, once my job is done on the film, it’s really none of my business.”
Ron Howard said something similar when he basically explained that it’s pointless watching a movie when you’re done with it, because you can’t possibly get anything else out of it. Unless it’s self-criticism and deep-seated discomfort you’re after, there really is nothing meaningful in watching your own movies. And he also once said his priority in acting is to continue “growing”, meaning that he really does move from challenge to challenge without revisiting old projects.
Angelina Jolie is exactly the same. She prefers the process and the approach to overcoming challenges, and watching anything back is basically worthless. “There are quite a few films of mine I’ve actually never seen, cause I like the process,” she explained on Smallzy’s Celebrity Small Talk.
Continuing, “I usually see it, and I get frustrated cause I thought it was going to be something else. So I’m a terrible critic.” The only one she admitted to having actually seen was Marvel’s alien epic Eternals. “I really just like the making of. But I enjoyed watching [Eternals],” she said. “I’ve seen it.”
In the broader context of Jolie’s legacy, one might argue that Eternals isn’t exactly all that much of a solid touchpoint for the actor when watching her own stuff is such a rarity. In fact, heaps of other titles come to mind first before this one, like Salt, Wanted, Girl, Interrupted, making Eternals a weak contender among the more obvious gems.
This is especially strange considering the heavyweight talent of its cast. After all, alongside Jolie, Eternals also boasted names like Salma Hayek, Barry Keoghan, and Kit Harrington – plus a mid-credits cameo from Harry Styles. Anyone who is anyone was all over this project, and yet it still managed to become the lowest-rated MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes.
There was also a lot of heavy promotion around each actor and character, in true Marvel fashion, and a major push for it to reach the right audiences, and yet, it still became one of the empire’s biggest flops, for reasons people are still trying to put their finger on, but maybe Jolie found something to enjoy it, immune to others’ criticisms, even if she’s susceptible to her own.
