ANGELINA JOLIE
BRANDS LARA ROLE MODEL
Copyright 2003 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ July 23rd 2003 ]
Academy
Award winner Angelina Jolie is proud of playing
high-flying action hero Lara Croft on screen and
believes the character is a role model grounded
in reality. Jolie reprises the role in "Lara Croft
Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" opening in the
United States on Friday, playing a cultured, yet
spectacularly athletic and attractive British
adventurer. The Oscar winner in 2000 as Best Supporting
Actress for "Girl, Interrupted" said Lady Croft
does not have to be "anti-man" to be a strong
woman. "She’s very sexual and she’s very sensual
but she doesn’t use it to win," Jolie told Reuters
in a recent interview. "She’s strong enough. And
I think she’s very complete as a woman because
she’s a lady and she’s intelligent but she’s also
able to get dirty and wild. I think she’s got
a nice combination of most of the women I know."
Croft
also has supreme martial arts skills, uncanny
marksmanship, scores of electronic gadgets, boundless
courage and a weapons arsenal that would make
small countries envious. Shot on locations ranging
from Wales to Greece to Kenya to Hong Kong, the
film tells the tale of a treasure hunt that turns
into a mission to save the world from a Nobel
scientist gone very bad. The action scenes and
scope of the film outstrip the first 2001 "Tomb
Raider" movie, which grossed nearly $300 million
worldwide. Croft pole-vaults from a roof top onto
a passing helicopter, makes a head-first escape
down a lifeline hanging from a cliff and executes
a free fall dive off the 84th floor of an unfinished
Hong Kong skyscraper.
To pull
off the stunt work required, Jolie plunged into
serious training, including gymnastics, weight
lifting, bungee jumping, motorcycling, kick boxing,
martial arts and weaponry. "There’s a few really
hard months of training learning these new skills,
and lots of bruises and falling over," said the
28-year-old Jolie. "But it’s great. It’s such
a great excuse to get in shape." Beyond the physical
demands, director Jan De Bont had big praise for
Jolie’s acting. "I think what makes it so special
is she is a very daring actress," said the Dutch
director, whose previous action films include
"Speed" and "Twister". "Quite often when an actress
goes into an action movie they think it’s relatively
easy and so mechanical. The truth is that it’s
very difficult, more difficult than a drama. "When
you have a dramatic scene around a table it’s
pretty relaxing but if you hang upside down and
you have to do things it’s not so easy."
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