Angelina Jolie covers the LA Times’ Envelope Magazine (their in-house entertainment mag), all to promote Pablo Larrain’s Maria. The Maria team was included in the profile, and they adore Jolie and she loves them right back. There’s not a lot of new information here – Jolie has given herself talking points and she’s been good at adhering to them – but I just love how much she’s been hustling this fall and winter. She’s already gotten a Critics Choice and Golden Globe nomination, and she’s picked up several special recognition awards at the Gotham Awards and various film festivals. Some highlights:
Whether she harbors any desires to perform opera on stage: “My God,” she answers, as if she’d been asked to sample a cup of sour milk. “That would be my nightmare. That would be terrifying.”
Her kinship with Maria Callas: “We’re both very emotional women who probably are seen as quite strong but are quite vulnerable, emotional artists who are alone a lot.”
A big swing: “I admire people that take a big swing, even if they fall. When I see people who are careful — too careful — I’m more uncomfortable for them.” But “if I see somebody being emotionally brave or creatively brave, I root for them. I don’t judge them.”
Callas’ line, “I took liberties all my life, and the world took liberties with me.” Did the actor, herself a constant target of media scrutiny and speculation, feel any connection to Callas in that way? Jolie simply turns the question back at me: “I think journalists of the world watch this film a little differently. When they see the film, they’re very conscious of maybe how their work affected both of us.”
Jolie does not share Callas’ professional angst as an aging woman: “My motherhood is the only thing that I couldn’t live without. Truly, you could take everything else. I’d be fine.”
She loves telling stories with “slightly broken” and “sensitive” people. “I’ve been one my whole life. Sensitive people feel a lot, and they worry a lot. They also create a lot, and they connect in beautiful ways. One of the most beautiful things about being on a film set is you’re with hundreds of others. You’ve all found each other. You’re all sensitive, you’re all creative, and you’re all a little — you know, unusual. And not necessarily the most stable.”
“You’ve all found each other. You’re all sensitive, you’re all creative, and you’re all a little — you know, unusual. And not necessarily the most stable.” There’s that old goth girl. Honestly, Angelina’s instability used to be front and center back in the day, and then motherhood changed her and she became a grown-up. But she still has that sensitive-artist side to her which is “unusual” and “not necessarily the most stable.” This feels like a comeback for her in that regard, even though she’s had acting roles in the past decade. This is a comeback for Angelina really pouring herself into a character and playing a role which she relates to so much.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, LAT’s Instagram.
