THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010
KLMNO
S
C3 Angelina Jolie, an actress who flexes more than dramatic muscle jolie from C1
tively layered performance as the film’s slippery title character — or even in the marmoreal perfection she has reached as a physically flawless screen object. Rather, by starring in the kind of movie that made Sean Connery, Harrison Ford and Matt Damon household names, Jolie has undertaken no less an audacious feat than rede- fining female stardom itself.
Women have starred in action movies before: a ripped Linda Hamilton in the “Terminator” movies; angular, square-jawed Ja- mie Lee Curtis in “True Lies”; and most recently, a fembotic Milla Jovovich in the “Resident Evil” se- ries. And certainly serious ac- tresses have dabbled in action, in- cluding Sigourney Weaver, who reprised her groundbreaking tough-girl performance in “Alien” in last year’s “Avatar,” and Halle Berry’s regrettable macha turn in “Catwoman.” But Jolie, who at 35 has won an Oscar for her role in the 1999 dra- ma “Girl, Interrupted” and now commands $20 million per pic- ture, has made action a consis- tent and crucial part of her me- teoric rise. Unlike Meg Ryan, Jul- ia Roberts and Sandra Bullock, Jolie has largely avoided the ro- mantic-comedy ghetto of the highly paid sisterhood (hey, even Kate Winslet did the date-night confection “The Holiday”). Instead, she’s toggled between serious dramas (“A Mighty Heart,” “Changeling”) and rock ’em- sock ’em action pictures (“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Wanted”), manag- ing to carve out a career all her own — and hitherto unseen in Hollywood. Jolie’s success as an action heroine has helped her create a persona that, both on- screen and off-, has transfixed au- diences through hits and bombs alike. “You know, I took kickboxing lessons and all that when I was really young,” Jolie explains in a soft voice. “I was a bit of a tomboy. . . . I just feel like I’ve been so lucky that I’ve been allowed by audiences to do very heavy drama and big action movies, and that balance has been so lovely in my life. I’ve been able to go to those very heavy places and spend months very internally as a wom- an and explore my emotions, and then a year later, when I’m feeling very soft and want to get out and feel strong, I’m encouraged to do that, too.” There’s no question that action has been Jolie’s most popular genre since she first made “Lara Croft” in 2001. That movie and its sequel grossed more than $430 million between them worldwide; “Gone in 60 Seconds” grossed more than $230 million; “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” a romantic action comedy Jolie made with now real-life romantic partner Brad Pitt, grossed $478 million; and the pulp-noir fantasy “Want- ed” made more than $340 mil- lion. By comparison, “A Mighty Heart,” based on the agonizing real-life story of reporter Daniel Pearl’s widow, Mariane, made a little less than $19 million and the period melodrama “Change- ling” (this time about an agoniz- ing mother) made $113 million. Jolie’s embrace of raw, kinetic
action has proved canny at a time when action has become an es- sential part of the film grammar, a guarantor of attracting the all- important teenage male audi- ence. And surely her grit and guts have become an accepted trope in Hollywood, where Cameron Diaz (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Knight and Day”) can engage in more playful versions of Jolie’s harder-edged exploits. The reality that Jolie has acknowledged and helped create is that women are no less femi- nine for being as brave and agile as men; if anything, mixing it up
logically mature enough to take on whichever mythology the au- dience demands. And the more powerfully bifurcated, the better. “It seems very opposing, but in
fact I think it is one in the same,” Jolie says of her dual personas. “Because I think it’s just a com- mitment and a passion to fight for what you think is the right thing, whatever it may be. So somehow, it’s not as bizarre as it seems.” In “Salt,” Evelyn Salt fights with
SUZANNE TENNER/COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES CHUCK HODES/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
a fierceness that, notwithstand- ing preposterous stunts like driv- ing by way of a Taser or jumping from a bridge onto a passing truck, delivers a transgressive jolt. When the writers made Salt a woman, Jolie explains, “the in- stinct would be . . . to make it soft- er, and instead we decided it had to be meaner. She had to fight dirty and darker because that’s what you’d have to do to win against a man who’s much bigger than you.” The film leaves the door open
ALEX BAILEY/PARAMOUNT PICTURES VIA AP TONY RIVETTI JR./UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
FOUR FACES OF ANGELINA: Clockwise from top left, “Girl, Interrupted,” the 1999 drama that earned Jolie an Oscar; the pulp-noir fantasy “Wanted”; the period melodrama “Changeling”; and the 2001 adventure “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” which established Jolie’s action bona fides. “It seems very opposing, but in fact I think it is one in the same,” Jolie says of her dual drama-action personas.
makes her more limber and be- lievable as a player at a time when no one questions a woman’s abili- ty to lead in any field. With “Salt,” she’s poised to fuse the nodes that have defined her career — serious acting chops and outsize physical derring-do — more seamlessly than ever be- fore; if filmgoers like what they see, Jolie may even be on the cusp of a spy franchise that will make Evelyn Salt the first female name on a list that has included James Bond, Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne. It’s a breakthrough so seismic that the Hollywood Re- porter compared it to Eddie Mur- phy becoming the first African American to headline a franchise picture with “Beverly Hills Cop” 25 years ago. It’s a leap Jolie is more than ready to make. “I’ve done a lot of action movies, but with women they’re usually always based in fantasy and sci-fi. They’ve never been in this genre, which is just strange,” she says. “I’ve never been able to do an action movie that had such great drama, real drama.”
And by real, she means really
real: Just weeks before “Salt” was screened for critics and reporters, the Department of Justice and the FBI announced their arrest of 10 Russian sleeper agents they had been tracking for a decade. The existence of deep-cover moles living in the suburbs of New Jersey and Virginia struck uncannily close to the plot of “Salt,” in which Jolie’s character is accused of being a Russian mole clandestinely working in the CIA. For most of the movie, Salt is on the run from her colleagues in the U.S. government as well as Rus- sian agents. For a long time, Hollywood stu- dios considered Russian sleeper spies so dated and outlandish that they wouldn’t touch the “Salt” script, which was originally written for Tom Cruise. But it was
• Long Gowns • Cocktail Dresses • Evening Separates • Purses • Dress Boutique
SERVICE ~ SELECTION ~ SERVICE Choose from over 1000 Formals
Why customers come 100’s of miles to
The Styling can range in size from 4 to 24 - Missy • PLUS • Petite No one is too difficult to fit - Three outstanding seamstresses.
Mother of the Bride/Groom Brides Again
Grandmothers - Bar/Bat Mitzvats ~ Political Events ~ Entertainments ~ All Your Formal Needs
KNIT SEPARATES Daytime - Evening Missy & PLUS Sizes
MISOOK
6707 Old Dominion Dr. McLean, VA 22101
703-356-6333 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10am to 5:30pm
Sale80% Overstock Couture Gown Over 200 fabulous gowns Coupon Expires August 14, 2010 $50OO
70%Off Off
Off 20% OFF BIG Selection SPRING/SUMMER
Any Purchase of $100.00 or more of non sale merchandise
Not Valid with any other offer. One coupon per household
WP THURS. 7/22/10
Directions - NORTH on the Beltway take Exit 46B onto Rt. 123N-McLean. Go 3 miles & turn right onto Old Dominion Dr. (Rt. 309). Go 1/2 mile thru 2 traffic lights. We are on the right next to Shell Gas.
SOUTH from Md. - Cross the Amer. Legion Br. - Take the VERY first Exit on the LEFT - Exit 45B Go 1/2-mile - Take Exit 19B (NOT Exit 19A) onto Rt. 123N for 1.4 miles - Right on Rt. 309. Go 1/2-mile to 6707.
• Evening Separates • Cocktail Dresses •
Washington’sPremier After 5 Boutique Mae’s
when Sony Pictures Entertain- ment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal approached Jolie to co-star in the James Bond movie “Casino Roy- ale” — and Jolie responded that she’d rather play Bond, thank you very much — that “Salt’s” pro- ducers considered changing their protagonist from an Edwin to an Evelyn. “I don’t think a hero is male or female. I think it’s actually non- gender-specific,” says “Salt” pro- ducer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “Every action beat [Jolie] takes, every critical decision she makes . . . a guy’s going to do the same thing as she does. She’s going to bring her own skill set the same way a guy would bring his own skill set. But fundamentally the actions are the same. I think that’s where the breakthrough is —that we can stop saying ‘female action’ or ‘male action,’ we’ll just say ‘action star.’ I think she’s real- ly, in a way, gone beyond gender.” Di Bonaventura compares Jolie
to Steve McQueen in the way she combines her athleticism and act- ing ability: “Steve McQueen wasn’t a big guy. She’s not a big girl. He wasn’t pumped up. She’s not pumped up. But you believed Steve McQueen was going to kick whoever’s ass it was. And you be- lieve she can kick whoever’s ass it is. And that’s attitude, not physi- cality.”
Once di Bonaventura’s words sink in, it’s telling — jarring, even —that, in reaching back to classic Hollywood stars, he compares Jo- lie to McQueen rather than, say, Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hep- burn or Bette Davis. Certainly, with her photogenic looks and an off-screen life that includes six children, global activism, a sto- ried romance with Pitt and an in- effable balance of peripatetic ad- venture and domesticity, Jolie has
attained the glamour and mythic fascination of those great stars. But perhaps even more impor- tant, she has done so with pre- cisely the same understanding of her fans. Just as the stars of yore shrewdly knew when to throw in a musical comedy or melodrama to keep their core audience hap- py, Jolie possesses the same sense of service to ticket buyers. Fans will accept her dramatic gravitas in “Changeling,” but they keep coming back for the whoop-ass in “Wanted.” They’re dazzled by the glamour (those eyelashes) but they can relate to the earthiness (those fingernails). And Jolie happily gives them both. Says “Salt” director Phillip Noyce, who also directed her in “The Bone Collector” in 1999, Jo- lie “gets a thrill out of putting on a show. . . . She loves to pitch the tent and draw the audience in, and she loves to entertain them. I’ve noticed that those actors that do best artistically or financially always have that in common, that old-fashioned showman’s instinct that the reason the audience find them pleasing is because they want to please the audience.” Later, unbidden, Jolie echoes
Noyce’s observation. “I’m con- scious of an audience and I’m happy when an audience re- sponds,” she says. “I’m not some- one who’s doing it for my own pleasure, as much as I also love the communication. I like to tell stories and I hope that people do understand and enjoy them. “It should be entertainment,” she continues. “There’s nothing wrong with trying something in- teresting, trying something you’re curious about, but also making sure you give the audi- ence what you know they’ll be happy about and excited about.” Alone among female stars of
her generation, Jolie has asked for and has received permission by filmgoers to straddle two worlds, not only between action and drama on screen, but be- tween an off-screen persona of Globally Conscious Earth Mother and an aggressive on-screen em- bodiment of Kali, Goddess of De- struction. They’re mythic roles that exert equally primal pulls, and Jolie has proved emotionally adept, physically capable, psycho-
for a franchise that can age with Jolie, moving from bare-knuckled action into craftier, more psycho- logical realms. (Although as Helen Mirren’s recent foray into the “National Treasure” series suggests, there may not be an ex- piration date for adventuresome women.) Jolie admits that Evelyn Salt compels her in a way that her car- toon characters haven’t. She may like pitching the tent, but not just for the money. “I was asked to do sequels of ‘Wanted,’ but that char- acter just isn’t very interesting to me, beyond the fact that she’s dead,” Jolie says. “But there are so many things [Eveyln Salt] has yet to figure out about herself as a woman, as a person. So many things about her parents she’s try- ing to figure out and also, really, what side she’s on, and the oppor- tunity for more disguises. She’s a great deal of fun if I get to do it again.” She fixes a visitor with a catlike gaze and a knowing smile. And somehow the question doesn’t seem to be if she’ll get to do it again, but when.
hornadaya@washpost.com
ON WASHINGTONPOST.COM To view photos of Angelina Jolie
and read a Q&A with Jolie and other cast and crew members from "Salt," go to
washingtonpost.com/movies.
• Jewelry • Cocktail Dresses • Evening Separates •
• Purses • Cocktail Dresses • Evening Separates •
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74