Angelina Jolie Gets Some Good News at the Dentist’s Office
By PAULA SCHWARTZ
The Golden Globe nominations on Thursday drew varied reactions from nominees and non-nominees
alike. Then there was the power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,
who both snagged nominations. Mr. Pitt is up for best actor for
“Moneyball,” while Ms. Jolie’s directing debut, “In the Land of Blood
and Honey,” about the Bosnian war, is competing in the foreign-language
category. Even without the controversies surrounding it, Ms. Jolie knows the film is a hard sell.
“It’s a really tough film to even ask people to sit and watch,” she
said Thursday by phone from Los Angeles, adding that her greatest hope
was “to start a dialogue, that’s all we’ve ever wanted, so this really
means a lot to us and will help hopefully in our getting the film out.”
Though
the old joke is that what actors really want to do is direct, Ms. Jolie
said that wasn’t something she aspired to. “I just was compelled to
tell the story and kind of by default ended up as the director.”
Did the nomination feel like vindication for a first-time director? “Sure,” she said. Noting that the cast included survivors of the war, she added, “They were all putting their faith in me, and I’ve felt such a responsibility.”
In what was probably not the greatest segue, we pointed out that the the Hollywood Foreign Press Association seems to love her and her companion, Mr. Pitt. It gave “The Tourist,” in which she starred with Johnny Depp, a best picture nomination despite critical brickbats. But she doesn’t necessarily return the love. “You know I don’t read press, so that probably helps,” she said. “I don’t read anything written about me. I haven’t in my whole career.”
As for Mr. Pitt’s Golden Globe mention, Ms. Jolie reported that he was happy, both for himself and his co-star Jonah Hill, who is competing for best supporting actor: “We talked so briefly cause we’ve been running doing different things today; we saw each other for a second,” things that would include taking their children to the dentist, which is where she was when she heard the nomination news.
Like many of their fellow nominees, there was to be no celebration, however. “No, we have other things,” she said. “We’re trying to deal with Christmas wrapping and the tree. To us, when the work is done and when you do something you believe in, that’s the moment — not when other people acknowledge it.”
Danny Moloshok/R-MOLOSHOK, via Associated Press
Angelina Jolie at the premiere of her film in Los Angeles.
Did the nomination feel like vindication for a first-time director? “Sure,” she said. Noting that the cast included survivors of the war, she added, “They were all putting their faith in me, and I’ve felt such a responsibility.”
In what was probably not the greatest segue, we pointed out that the the Hollywood Foreign Press Association seems to love her and her companion, Mr. Pitt. It gave “The Tourist,” in which she starred with Johnny Depp, a best picture nomination despite critical brickbats. But she doesn’t necessarily return the love. “You know I don’t read press, so that probably helps,” she said. “I don’t read anything written about me. I haven’t in my whole career.”
As for Mr. Pitt’s Golden Globe mention, Ms. Jolie reported that he was happy, both for himself and his co-star Jonah Hill, who is competing for best supporting actor: “We talked so briefly cause we’ve been running doing different things today; we saw each other for a second,” things that would include taking their children to the dentist, which is where she was when she heard the nomination news.
Like many of their fellow nominees, there was to be no celebration, however. “No, we have other things,” she said. “We’re trying to deal with Christmas wrapping and the tree. To us, when the work is done and when you do something you believe in, that’s the moment — not when other people acknowledge it.”
The Golden Globe Nominations: The Women
Awards by | December 16, 2011I like the Golden Globe show cause it's always goofy. People drink, say funny stuff and you get TV and film people in one place. People who are awards watchers don't take it too seriously because they have two different film categories -- comedy and drama -- which no other awards do. The also kiss a lot of celebrity butt in order to have a star ladened show rather than a serious awards show. So you must not take anything these people do too seriously.
But they do get coverage and they do get talked about so it matters that with 11 films nominated in the two categories there is not a single woman directed film nominated for best drama or best comedy/musical. The Help and Bridesmaids continued their good week and I think that we will have to settle for one (The Help) or hopefully both of these films representing the chicks at the Oscars. So it will be films about women that will represent women, not films by women. But weirdly, the Bridesmaids writers did not get nominated here, nor did any other female film writers (except for Angelina Jolie who got a best foreign language film nomination).
There are two women directed films nominated, Best Animated Feature: Arthur Christmas directed by Sarah Smith, and In the Land of Blood and Honey directed by Angelina Jolie (which bizarrely qualifies as a foreign film even though the country it qualifies from is the United States.) The film is quite good and shouldn't need this type of bullshit to get recognized. Isn't the whole point of the category to highlight films from other countries, not just films in other languages?
Other thing to note - Glenn Close got two nominations. One for best actress in Albert Nobbs and the other for best song. She wrote the lyrics for Lay Your Head Down, a song from Albert Nobbs. Who knew?
