WEST AND JOLIE TALK TOMB RAIDER LOGISTICS
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ June 10th 2001 ]

Angelina Jolie, the Oscar winning actress currently negotiating a hectic tour of media interviews on the eve of Paramount Pictures Tomb Raider world premier, has told the National Post her latest role as intrepid adventurer Lara croft is closer to her than any previous character she's portrayed.

"I really like her and I don't see a huge difference between us with the exception of her being very British and the fact that my guns are locked away in my house," explains Jolie, who has previously gone on record to proclaim an affinity with the Lara Croft character. Jolie also reveals that Tomb Raider director Simon West clearly had his work cut out when first approaching the Oscar winning actress. "When I first got the call about it, I was flattered, because you have to be, but I really thought it was ridiculous," Jolie continues. "I can't work a computer! I had heard of the game because my first husband [Trainspotting/Hackers star Jonny Lee Miller] liked it and I was the first person to say, 'Oh, look at her breasts...'"

Simon West [Con Air, The Generals Daughter] flew out to Mexico to meet Jolie who was filming Original Sin with co star Antonia Banderas, to plead his case. "It only took me about 20 minutes to convince her that it wasn't going to be a cartoon and that we'd try to do some real character stuff," West tells the National Post. "It probably also didn't hurt that her first husband had played it obsessively and she'd always regarded Lara Croft as sort of 'the other woman' and so I think the idea of becoming the person who used to be her rival appealed to her." West also gingerly tenders his version of the more logistical challenges faced by porting the Core Design video game star to the silver screen, namely how they would deal with the 'breast issue'. "There were some long discussions about the breasts since they're such a complete part of Lara's persona [really ? ed.] and we had to make all sorts of decisions about them," West says. "There was a big discussion about cleavage and we all decided that cleavage was sort of tacky and we'd never do that. Yes, she was large but they had to look real. They wouldn't stick out like torpedoes but fall in a realistic, gravity way."

West continues that with key elements in place, a compromise was reached in the form of happy medium, Croft's 33DD and Jolie's own. Both Angelina Jolie, accompanied by real life father and co star Jon Voight, and Tomb Raider director Simon West will continue their whistle-stop tour of Los Angeles hotel rooms advancing responses to a firing sqad of media reporters before attending Monday's world premier, which will broadcast across the Internet.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider will make it's public debut Friday June 15th across the United States, coming to European shores July 6th.