Angelina Jolie covers the latest issue of the Hollywood Reporter, in what is probably her first major trade paper interview in like seven or eight years. By the end of this, her social battery is going to be empty, even if she insists she loves being around people. I’m just saying, it’s been a while since she’s done anything like simultaneous promotional tours. She’s currently promoting Pablo Larrain’s Maria, which will likely get her another Oscar nomination, and her latest directorial effort, Without Blood. According to this THR piece, she’s also doing a great job refusing to answer questions about Brad Pitt and their divorce. THR asks her point-blank: “May I ask what the status of your divorce is?” Her answer: “No.” Some highlights from THR:
She doesn’t know how to do things halfway: “I think my failure is, I don’t know how to do the other. I really don’t. And many times I wish I did. I wish I knew how to be still and calm. I’m propelled forward constantly, and it’s not always the best feeling. For better or for worse, I’m a very deeply feeling person and kind of a raw nerve. So when I feel something deeply, I jump. I feel alive or I connect to something true inside myself.”
Someone was unkind about her singing voice: “[Being at La Scala] was an out-of-body experience because I don’t sing. I had somebody in my life who was not kind to me about singing. It was a relationship I was in. And so I just assumed I couldn’t really sing. I’d been to theater school, so it was weird that it even had an effect on me. I just kind of adapted to this person’s opinion. So it took me getting past a lot of things to start singing. And discovering also that I was a soprano. I thought I had a low voice my whole life. I was explaining [to the singing instructor] that my voice is deeper, and he said, “No, you’re actually a soprano.” And probably something happened. Your voice changes when you go through different things in your life. So that was a shock. That was very strange.”
Shaking off an intense day at work: “I’ve been a parent for 23 years. The most beautiful thing about being a parent is that you are not the center of your life. So you are leaving set, focused on something for someone. That’s your real life. Your real world. And that always is the majority of who you are. I have never had a set where my family is not allowed to be there because I’m focusing — I’m not that person. You can climb all over me or visit. It really meant a lot that my boys were with me on Maria. When I would have really heavy times, they would come over and just give me a hug or a cup of tea. That was probably one of the more intense things was that —usually when I’m expressing that much pain, it’s not in front of my children. You really try to hide from your children how much pain and sadness you carry. And so for them to be with you when you’re expressing it at such a level, I think it was the first time they ever heard me cry like that. That’s usually for the shower.
Maddox and Pax worked on the crew of ‘Maria’: “Mad and Pax were on this one. Doing AD [assistant directing] work. They’ve done that quite a few times, and I think that’s good for them. Pax tends to do stills and he gets brought in, and Pablo was wonderful and recognized that he was good at it.
Why she waited so long to go back to work like this: “I needed to be home more with my kids. [Now] they’re a bit older, getting more independent. I’m less needed and so able to go away for different periods of time. And they’re old enough to join me at work. It’s a new season in our lives. I’m very excited for them to be coming into their own more and more every day.
Whether she’ll live in LA after her kids grow up: “I grew up in this town. I am here because I have to be here from a divorce, but as soon as they’re 18, I’ll be able to leave. When you have a big family, you want them to have privacy, peace, safety. I have a house now to raise my children, but sometimes this place can be … that humanity that I found across the world is not what I grew up with here. [After Los Angeles,] I’ll spend a lot of time in Cambodia. I’ll spend time visiting my family members wherever they may be in the world.
Her close friends & betrayals: “I don’t really have those kinds of relationships. Maybe it’s losing your parent young. Maybe it’s working. Maybe it’s being somebody who’s been betrayed a lot. I don’t have a lot of those warm, close relationships as much that I lean on. But I have a few, and a few is enough. Loung [Ung, the Cambodian American human rights activist who is the subject of First They Killed My Father] is one of my closest friends. My mother was very close to me. I lost her. I’ve had a few friends over the years not be there for my family in their hour of need. I have a couple of people that I trust. What did Maria Callas die with? Two trusted people.”
I know all about the betrayals in her life, and I would assume that Brad Pitt betrayed her the most, probably alongside her father. But who the f–k told her she couldn’t sing? Was that Brad too, or was that someone from when she was younger? Billy Bob?? Jonny? As for her kids and being in LA… the absolute craziest part of it is that Angelina specifically bought a house which was close to Brad’s Los Feliz compound, with the idea being that she would be close-by in case she needed to rush over to Brad’s house and pick up the kids if something happened during visitation. But the kids rarely wanted to see Brad. And then Brad sold HIS home and moved to Carmel last year. So Angelina is still stuck in LA for a few more years while Knox and Vivienne are still teenagers.
Angelina Jolie on herself: “I wish I knew how to be still and calm. I’m propelled forward constantly…For better or for worse, I’m a very deeply feeling person and kind of a raw nerve. So when I feel something deeply, I jump” https://t.co/5SNbHoqhBB pic.twitter.com/qTxDIxqBvQ
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 30, 2024
Cover courtesy of THR, additional photos courtesy of Cover Images.