The record-breaking role Angelina Jolie wasn’t satisfied with: “We couldn’t adjust to everything”
Not many actors or filmmakers have set out with the intention of making history or breaking records with their latest movie. Even when they do, the key creatives still aren’t guaranteed happiness, which Angelina Jolie was happy to admit.
At the turn of the millennium, Jolie was one of the fastest-rising young stars in the industry, who’d embarked on an incredible run to dispel any notions that she was little more than a pretty face. Sure, she was very easy on the eye, but the second-generation performer was also blessed with acting chops for days.
Jolie won consecutive Golden Globes between 1998 and 2000 in three different categories to display her versatility. She nabbed a ‘Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film’ trophy for made-for-TV biopic George Wallace, took home ‘Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film’ for playing the title role in Gia, and landed ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her turn in Girl, Interrupted.
The latter also won her an Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actress’, and she was still only 24 years old when she took to the stage to accept her prize. One thing that can always be banked on is a star-making turn being followed by a blockbuster debut, a path Jolie willingly followed.
Her first release after winning an Oscar was Nicolas Cage’s action thriller Gone in 60 Seconds before she took top billing in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Bringing the console favourite to the big screen was seen as perfect casting by fans and non-fans alike, which was reflected in the movie’s ticket sales.
Simon West’s globetrotting adventure may not have bowled the critics over – with Jolie making the Razzies shortlist for ‘Worst Actress’ – but a box office haul within a whisker of $275 million made it both the highest-grossing video game adaptation in history and the top-earning action flick with a female protagonist.
Did that mean Jolie was thrilled with the results? No, not really. “I wasn’t satisfied with it,” she told Black Film. “Through the making of that film, we were all still trying to figure out how things worked, and we were trying to make the video game into a person, but still, it was the video game, and still, she was a video vixen, and she wasn’t quite a solid woman with emotions and feelings.”
Jolie confessed that “we couldn’t adjust to everything right,” leading to a very successful film that was still style over substance. Ironically, those were mistakes she tried desperately to rectify for the sequel The Cradle of Life, which turned out to be significantly worse, earned a great deal less money from cinemas, and effectively killed the franchise and her association with it stone dead.
