Angelina Jolie's Latest Film Comes Under Fire From Human Rights Watch
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- Published on Friday, 04 August 2017 18:48
- Written by PSmag
The director may have cast the controversial Royal Cambodian Armed Forces in First They Killed My Father.Just as critics have begun to include Angelina Jolie's new film in their lists predicting nominees for the 2018 Oscar race, Human Rights Watch's Asia Division is criticizing the director for allegedly casting soldiers from the controversial Royal Cambodian Armed Forces in her much-anticipated new movie, First They Killed My Father.First They Killed My Father, set to be released stateside this year by Netflix, portrays the Khmer Rouge's regime through the eyes of a five-year-old girl and is based on the acclaimed 2006 memoir by Loung Ung of the same name. While reception of the film in Cambodia, where it screened in February, has reportedly been positive, in a Vanity Fair magazine profile of Jolie released online on Wednesday, author Evgenia Peretz includes an anecdote that has alarmed at least one human rights advocate. Among other concessions to the movie's team, Cambodia "provid[ed the production] with 500 officials from their actual army to play the Khmer Rouge army," Peretz writes. Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, told New York magazine on Thursday that, if this detail is true, it represents an uncharacteristically unethical production decision from the famously humanitarian filmmaker. "To ask for permission to make a film and thereby invest in the local economy is fine, and you're going to have to have some meetings with some government officials," Adams said. "But you can take a stance to make sure you don't empower, legitimize, or pay the wrong people. And working with the Cambodian army is a no-go zone, it's a red flag, and it's a terrible mistake." Rights groups argue that the government of current Prime Minister Hun Sen regularly deploys the RCAF to suppress the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, as well as to quell trade unions and other protestors. In 2014, the Cambodian army opened fire on garment factory workers who were striking for higher wages, killing four and injuring 21. Human Rights Watch says that the RCAF has, under orders from the government, also organized several roadblocks, where security forces harass and attempt to intimidate those who they suspect will protest or agitate.For Jolie, working with the RCAF would be a ding on her humanitarian record. She has worked to preserve endangered forests and prevent sexual violence, among other causes, in Cambodia since her first blockbuster film, 2001's Tomb Raider, was partially shot in the country. She has been awarded honorary citizenship in the country for her conservation work; Jolie has also adopted three children from Cambodian orphanages.Nevertheless, Jolie has come under fire for making ethically dubious decisions during her work in the country before: In 2011, PRI reported that she had purchased land for her Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation from Yim Tith, a former commander for the Khmer Rouge. She was also the subject of several critical stories on Wednesday, after she told Vanity Fair about a controversial tactic she had used when casting the five-year-old lead in First They Killed My Father: Casting directors would put money on a table in front of a child and ask them to think about something they needed it for; then Jolie pretended to "catch" the child and take the money away.As for the girl chosen for the part, Srey Moch: "When she was asked later what the money was for, she said her grandfather had died, and they didn't have enough money for a nice funeral," Jolie told the magazine.
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Angelina Jolie Explains How First They Killed My Father Helped Her Son Maddox Connect to His Country
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- Published on Thursday, 27 July 2017 11:08
- Written by People
For Angelina Jolie, adapting her friend Loung Ung‘s memoir First They Killed My Father into a film was more than just a passion project.In a new behind-the-scenes video, the director, actress and activist explains how her deep connection to Cambodia and its people inspired her to help tell a painful story in the country’s recent history. “I’m doing this for [Ung], for her family, for Cambodia and very much also for Maddox,” she said of her oldest son, whom she adopted from the country, adding, “So he learns about who he is and becomes that much more connected to his country.” Jolie fell in love with Cambodia while filming her breakout role in 2001’s Tomb Raider there on location. She found the poverty-stricken country still recovering from the genocide inflicted by the Khmer Rouge regime, which led to the deaths of nearly a quarter of the population from 1975 to 1979. The group was active until 1999, and the war tribunals started in 2009 are ongoing.Despite the terror endured by average Cambodians, Jolie recently told Vanity Fair of first visit, “I found a people who were so kind and warm and open, and, yes, very complex. You drive around here you can see a lot of people with many things, but not often expressing happiness. You go there, and you see the families come out with their blanket and their picnic to watch a sunset.”In the behind-the-scenes clip, Jolie explains that she was disappointed she wasn’t taught more about Cambodia in school. Wanting to learn more, she bought a book on the side of the road for $2. The book was Loung Ung’s First They Killed My Father, a memoir about Ung’s harrowing experience under the Khmer Rouge.
Jolie and Ung eventually became friends, and it was the author’s advice and support that helped the actress make up her mind about adopting a Cambodian child. “I talked to her about wanting to be the mother of a Cambodian child, and how she would feel about that as an orphan — as a woman who had been orphaned by the war,” she explains in the clip.Ung’s support helped Jolie to visit an orphanage in the provincial town of Battambang, where she ultimately found her son Maddox, now 15. She recalled the story to Vanity Fair, remembering that at first, “I didn’t feel a connection with any of them. They then said, ‘There’s one more baby.’ ” That’s when she saw Maddox lying in a box suspended from the ceiling. “I cried and cried,” she said.Ultimately, it was Maddox who encouraged his mom to turn “Auntie” Loung’s book into a film. “He was the one who said, ‘It’s time to do it,’ ” Jolie told Vanity Fair. She recognized his passion for the project, and realized that he’d be “standing there watching horrors that his countrymen did to each other. [So] he had to be ready.” Determined only to make the film with Cambodian support and participation, Jolie first drafted the country’s most famous filmmaker, Rithy Panh, who had lost family in the killings. She also worked with the Cambodian government, which blessed the project, citing Jolie’s track record of respect for the country’s culture and history. Even the child actors in the film were scouted from “orphanages, circuses and slum schools,” according to Vanity Fair.For Maddox, Jolie told the magazine, “It was a way for him to walk in the steps that most likely his birth parents walked.” By the end of the project, she was heartened to see him having sleepovers with his new Cambodian friends from set.
First They Killed My Father premieres on Netflix this September.
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Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and More! See the Stars Heading to Toronto Film Festival
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- Published on Wednesday, 26 July 2017 06:09
- Written by People
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival features one star-studded lineup! On Tuesday, the prestigious festival unveiled its first slate of films for this year’s September 7 to 17 event, including movies directed by Angelina Jolie and George Clooney.Jolie’s First They Killed My Father is set to hit the festival, a few months after the passion project about the Khmer Rouge genocide premiered in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Meanwhile, Clooney’s comedy Suburbicon will show along with Darren Aronofsky‘s Mother! (which stars his girlfriend Jennifer Lawrence).The festival traditionally kicks the year’s Oscar race into high gear, with contenders vying to start the momentum that will carry them through awards season.Movies with gala world premieres will feature a slew of A-listers, including Emma Stone and Steve Carell as tennis rivals Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes; Kings, a drama about the L.A. riots starring Daniel Craig and Halle Berry; the Jake Gyllenhaal-fronted Stronger, about a Boston bombing survivor; and Neil Burger’s untitled film starring Kevin Hart.In other festival highlights, the formidable Judi Dench is taking on another royal role: She plays Queen Victoria in Victoria and Abdul. And Matt Damon is going mini! He’s a man who decides to shrink down to 5 in. tall in director Alexander Payne’s Downsizing.TIFF also snagged the international premiere of the Sundance hit Mudbound, a drama about a family living in the Deep South. The film stars Jason Clark, Mary J. Blige and Jason Mitchell. Paul McGuigan’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, with Annette Bening playing Hollywood Golden Age actress Gloria Grahame, and Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, will get Canadian premieres at the festival.This year’s event will be bittersweet as the world mourns the death of the festival’s founder, Bill Marshall. He died of a heart attack in January, EW reported. He was 77.
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Angelina Jolie eyes Australia for latest movie
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- Published on Wednesday, 26 July 2017 06:11
- Written by Bendigo Advertiser
Film agency executives are negotiating to land the World War II drama Unbroken, which the A-list star is directing for Hollywood studio Universal Pictures.Given the still-high value of the Australian dollar, it is believed extra federal and state government support will be needed to compete against other locations being considered for filming.While reports that Brad Pitt will film the Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea in Sydney have proven premature, Jolie's second movie as director is considered a strong chance to film in Australia after the collapse of filming plans in Hawaii.But the attraction of a studio water tank and jungle locations on the Gold Coast had one prominent producer saying Queensland is favourite to land the movie.But Screen NSW executives are believed to be discussing extra financial incentives with the studio. Previous deals attracted The Great Gatsby and The Wolverine to Sydney.A spokeswoman for Universal said the film-making team were currently scouting places to shoot scenes "but no decisions have been made and locations have not yet been confirmed".Jolie made a whirlwind visit to inspect possible locations in Sydney and the Gold Coast last week.Her second movie as director, after In The Land Of Blood And Honey, is based on Laura Hillenbrand's bestselling novel Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.It centres on the true story of Olympic track star and war hero Louie Zamperini, who survived for 47 days without food or water when his airforce plane crashed in the Pacific in 1943. He endured shark attacks, aerial attacks and hunger before being captured by the Japanese and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.Oscar-winning film-makers Joel and Ethan Coen have rewritten the screenplay after earlier drafts by William Nicholson (Les Miserables) and Richard LaGravenese (Behind the Candelabra).Universal has scheduled the movie for American release on Christmas Day next year, with production scheduled to start late next month.“I've had the privilege of spending a great deal of time with Louie Zamperini, who is a hero of mine, and now — I proud to say — a dear friend,” Jolie said in a statement last month. “I am deeply honoured to be telling his extraordinary story, and I will do my absolute best to give him the film he deserves.”
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Angelina’s Feud With Charlize EXPLODES Over ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ Role
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- Published on Friday, 23 June 2017 11:26
- Written by Radar Online
The 'hate fest' between Jolie & Theron 'just won't stop,' says a source.Angelina Jolie is stalling on committing to a Bride of Frankenstein remake, and RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned the delay may be a ploy to purposely annoy her rival, Charlize Theron.Last month, Universal Pictures introduced its “Dark Universe,” a Marvel-type of movie crossover family, starting with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy reboot, and scheduled to include some of history’s most famous horror monsters, including The Invisible Man, starring Johnny Depp, Dr. Jekyll, with Russell Crowe, and Frankenstein’s Monster with Javier Bardem.Jolie, 42, is being courted for the Bride of Frankenstein, with Theron, 41, tapped as the runner-up. But Radar has learned Jolie is stringing Theron along, refusing to commit to the project, and denying the Mad Max: Fury Road star the opportunity to accept other roles, as she awaits a decision.“Angie hasn’t made a deal with Universal to do their next monster flick, but the offer’s still on the table. She could use the $20m paycheck,” an insider told Radar. “She seems to enjoy sticking it to Charlize, who wanted to do this film and is convinced Angie stepped in to take it off her.”The two A-listers, who often play powerful women in film roles, have been on a Hollywood turf war for years. Their beef only increased when Theron was considered for a part in the remake of Murder on the Orient Express. A part that Jolie initially turned down.“The hate fest between these two started a long time ago and just won’t stop,” the insider said. “It’s as though directors are getting a buzz out of playing them against each other, by dangling a script to both of them then leaving them to bitch and slug it out.” Theron is no stranger to Hollywood feuds. In July 2014, former child actress Tia Mowry called her out for allegedly being mean to her when she bumped into the Oscar winner at a Los Angeles SoulCycle spin class.Mowry told In Touch: “I said, ‘Hi’ and she actually rolled her eyes and said, ‘Oh my God.'”
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