Great interview and great perspective from Angelina Jolie about raising children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. #ItsALothttps://t.co/1SoVnzqbxV
— Melissa Watson Politics (@melissawatsonf1) May 13, 2021
In the new thriller, "Those Who Wish Me Dead," Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie portrays a "smoke-jumper," a firefighter who parachutes into wildfires.
Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser said CBS would gain exposure in fast-growing countries.
CBS should buy Sony Pictures Entertainment, a Wall Street analyst said in a research note Tuesday.
Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group told clients that CBS will have cash for major acquisitions now that it has decided to turn CBS Outdoor in the Americas into an REIT while selling off the European portion of that business.
"First and foremost, among potential targets we think that at the right price, SPE offers a very strong fit for CBS," he wrote.
"If we assume SPE were worth around $10 billion in enterprise value
and were capable of high single digit profit margins, such an
acquisition would not be dilutive, and would be strategically
beneficial," wrote Wieser.
The analyst laid out several "improvements and related cost-savings"
of such an acquisition, including, CBS would gain exposure to
fast-growing countries through Sony's cable networks; Showtime would be
better able to expand internationally; combining the two libraries would
help CBS extract better terms from online distributors.
"While such a transaction might initially viewed negatively," wrote
Wieser, "we believe that investors would eventually welcome the current
CBS management team's oversight of a major studio given the financial
discipline and strategic choices they would make with it."
The analyst also noted that CBS chief executive Les Moonves has expressed an interest in SPE.
"Moonves indicated in the press that SPE is the kind of business that
CBS would be interested in purchasing. However, Sony has reiterated
several times that the division is not for sale."
Her plump lips have helped make her one of the most recognised and revered faces in Hollywood. And it seems that Angelina Jolie's twin son Knox has hit the gene pool lottery. The
adorable three-year-old showed off a bee-sting pout almost identical to
his mother's as the pair visited the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood
over the weekend.
Look familiar? Angelina Jolie's son Knox showed off a bee-sting pout almost
identical to his mother's as they arrived at the El Capitan Theatre
in Hollywood
Arriving to watch the Disney classic The Lady And The Tramp, Knox appeared to be blowing kisses to the family's bodyguard as they headed inside the famous film venue.
The 38-year-old actress was beaming as she held her young son in her arms. The
duo were joined by Knox's father Brad Pitt, who once again wore his
black all-in-one jumpsuit, which he had been sporting the week before
when the family went to see Cirque Du Soleil in Santa Monica.
Cute: Arriving to watch The Lady And The Tramp,
Knox appeared to be blowing kisses to the family's bodyguard as they
headed inside the famous film venue
Brad was seen carefully lifting Knox
out of the car and passing him to his partner of seven years, who
cuddled and carried the blonde-haired tot. Like
Brad, Angelina was also dressed in head-to-toe black, slipping her slim
figure into a pair of black trousers and matching sweater. The couple's other children were not spotted, but the family did arrive in a giant blacked out SUV. Despite
being the pictured perfect image of a doting mother and humanitarian,
Brad has recently revealed that his partner continues to have a naughty
side behind closed doors.
So happy: The 36-year-old actress was beaming as she held her young son in her arms
'She's still a bad girl,' the actor revealed on CBS This Morning Monday. 'Delightfully so. It's not for public consumption.' Angelina had admitted in an interview with 60 Minutes in November that her inner bad girl now 'belongs to Brad.' The
heavily tattooed actress once lived a what she described as a
'dangerous' life and was famous for her dark and provocative nature.
Comfort dressing: Brad Pitt wore his black all-in-one jumpsuit, which he
had been sporting the week before as he joined the family
She infamously wore then-husband Billy Bob Thornton's blood in a vial around her neck. She
also gave brother James Haven a passionate kiss on the lips at the 2000
Academy Awards and has spoken publicly about bisexual trysts. She
had a lesbian love affair with her Foxfire co-star Jenny Shimizu, of
whom she has said: 'I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't
married my [first] husband [Jonny Lee Miller].' As
well as focusing on her huge family and UN efforts, she is also
attempting to make her name as a director with her latest film In the
Land of Blood and Honey.
Doting parents: Brad was seen carefully lifting Knox out
of the car and passing him to his partner of seven years, who cuddled
and carried the blonde-haired tot
The actress also wrote the film, which is a dark love story set during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s. Pitt
spoke about his six children with Angelina - Maddox, 10, Pax, eight,
Zahara seven, Shiloh, five, and twins Knox and Vivienne, three. 'They're quite used to a bit of jet lag and moving to a new location, as long as we're together,' the Oscar nominee said.
Hold on tight: Angelina had wrapped Knox up in a blanket for the outing
Legendary: The family watched the Disney classic at one of Hollywood's most famous venues
'The home is always in tact.' 'They've got to pack their own bags,' Pitt added. 'And they're responsible if they leave their chargers behind, and so on and so forth.'
Still bad: Brad has recently revealed that
his partner continues to have a naughty side behind closed doors
She transformed her wild child image into that of a doting mother and humanitarian. But Brad Pitt, 48, has revealed Angelina Jolie, 36, continues to have a naughty side behind closed doors. 'She's still a bad girl,' the actor revealed on CBS This Morning Monday.
A sparkle in his eye: Brad Pitt gave an interview on This Morning with co-host Charlie Rose
'Delightfully so. It's not for public consumption.'
'Still a bad girl': Angelina Jolie at the SAG Awards last month
Angelina had admitted in
an interview with 60 Minutes in November that her inner bad girl now 'belongs to Brad.' The
heavily tattooed actress once lived a what she described as a
'dangerous' life and was famous for her dark and provocative nature. She infamously wore
then-husband Billy Bob Thornton's blood in a vial around her neck.
She also gave brother James Haven a
passionate kiss on the lips at the 2000 Academy Awards and has spoken
publicly about bisexual trysts.
She had a lesbian love affair with
her Foxfire co-star Jenny Shimizu, of whom she has said: 'I would
probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my [first] husband
[Jonny Lee Miller].' As well as focusing on her huge
family and UN efforts, she is also attempting to make her name as a
director with her latest film In the Land of Blood and Honey. The actress also wrote the film, which is a dark love story set during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s. Pitt spoke about his six children with Angelina - Maddox, 10, Pax, eight, Zahara
seven, Shiloh, five, and twins Knox and Vivienne, three. 'They're quite used to a bit of jet lag and moving to a new location, as long as we're together,' the Oscar nominee said. 'The home is always in tact.' 'They've got to pack their own bags,' Pitt added. 'And they're responsible if they leave their chargers behind, and so on and so forth.'
Family man: The Moneyball star also discussed his brood of six during the interview with Charlie Rose
It
might be one of the only private aspects of his and 36-year-old Jolie's
family life, which is often in the spotlight as the couple travels
around the world with their children in tow.
"They're quite used to a bit of jetlag and moving to a new
location, as long as we're together," Pitt told co-host Charlie Rose of
their brood. "So the home's always intact. They've got to pack their own
bags, and they're responsible if they leave their chargers behind, and
so on and so forth."
Of their children – Maddox, 10, Pax, 8, and Zahara, 7, Shiloh,
5, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 3 – Pitt told Rose of the sheer joy the
family has "because we are together," and how the best actor Oscar nominee's work has even "gotten better because I worry less about it. I mean, it's not as important as family."
By PETE HAMMOND | Monday February 6, 2012 @ 7:09pm PST
Today’s
31st annual Oscar nominees luncheon was typically relaxed and collegial
— a place where there were only winners, at least for today — and
contenders could catch up with old friends who also just happen to be
rivals in this year’s race.
So there were Best Actor nominees George Clooney and Brad Pitt
walking into the ballroom together deep in conversation. And Best
Picture producing nominees Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese walked
up to the risers, arms around each other, standing together until
Academy COO Ric Robertson called their names to come
up onstage and get their nomination certificates. All the 150 (out of
188) of Oscar’s class of 2011 lined up more or less alphabetically for
the annual “class photo” — starting with Transformers: Dark Of The Moon nominee Erik Aadahl and ending more than a half-hour later with Moneyball co-screenwriter Steven Zaillian. At my table, Hugo screenwriting
nominee John Logan observed, “Scanning this stage how can you not be
getting your heart beating?” Our table-mates included Academy Governor
Paul Mazursky, Iron Lady makeup artist Mark Coulier, Moneyball sound-mixing
nominee Ed Novick and past Academy President Arthur Hiller. Logan
listened raptly as Hiller recalled the making of The Americanization of Emily and The Hospital, both written by screenplay god Paddy Chayefsky.
All the tables mixed nominees from various disciplines. Academy
President Tom Sherak noted in opening remarks that the seating
arrangements were deliberate since all nominees were equal and all
films were equal. There was no War Horse or Descendants table,
just a collegial family feeling. Sherak also revealed that this year’s
Governors Ball would not be a sit-down dinner as in the past, but rather
a party atmosphere with food and drink and “mingling”. It’s a good idea
because sitting down at that event is never easy for winners — or those
who go home without Oscars. As for this sit-down lunch — which began 31
years ago when just 40 nominees showed up — Sherak said, “We know
awards season can be exhausting. Today is about taking a moment, taking a
breath and realizing what a special family this is… So take the
applause. This is probably the last time you’ll be applauding each
other.”
One
of the games pundits play at this event is trying to gauge the amount
of applause each nominee receives as their name is called by Robertson
to receive their certificate of nomination. By that measure it was no
contest: 82-year-old Max von Sydow. He told me he had cracked six ribs a
few days earlier and was the only one of the 150 in attendance to be
seated on a chair in front of the risers throughout the certificate
ceremony. Several friends made a point of saying hello as they made
their way to the stage and by the time his name was finally called the
place erupted with the biggest hand of the day. Clooney, Pitt, Gary
Oldman, Jean Dujardin, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh,
Octavia Spencer and Glenn Close were among others who scored
impressively on the applause-o-meter, but I would say Viola Davis and
Demian Bichir probably eclipsed them. After lunch Harvey Weinstein
stopped by Bichir’s table to congratulate him. “That was a lot of
applause you got. I saw Clooney and Pitt looking nervous, even my guy”
Dujardin from The Artist, he said. I showed Bichir an email I
had received earlier morning from an Academy member who had just seen
his film. “We watched it last night, and my view on immigration has
totally changed. It was a very poignant and meaningful film, which we
loved and were totally moved,” it read. Bichir, clearly touched, said
that was exactly the kind of response he hoped his nomination would
elicit. Bichir also started a trend when his name was called by bowing
and blowing a kiss to his fellow nominees on the risers.
Speaking of Weinstein, he ran into Ludivic Bource, Oscar-nominated composer of The Artist,
in the Hilton lobby before lunch and Bource proudly presented him with
the entire written score autographed with his thanks. Bource also made
Harvey turn to one specific blank page where it said, “Love Theme From
Vertigo”, and just below was his handwritten note: “Call Kim
Novak”. Weinstein cracked up at the reference to Novak who took out a
trade ad complaining about the inclusion of a small part of Bernard
Herrmann’s Vertigo music in one scene in the film. When I caught up with The Artist Best
Actor nominee and SAG winner Dujardin I congratulated him on his recent
Leno appearance where he killed with his John Travolta impression. “And
John Wayne too,” he reminded. “I liked Jay Leno. He is a nice man. He
has 130 cars. He said he drove the French car Citroen that day in my
honor and showed me his parking spot.” Dujardin was heading back to
Paris shortly after the lunch and then on to next weekend’s BAFTA awards
in London.
Later
during lunch 84th Oscar show producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer
took the stage to congratulate the nominees, beg them to be brief and
meaningful in their acceptance speeches, and offering a few details
about the show (which will not include performances of the two nominated
songs. What? No Muppets?). “Billy Crystal has a fantastic film with all
of you and your movies in it to open the show,” said Grazer who also
emphasized the producing pair’s goals, basically to be funny with lots
of comedy, to have some class and to come in on time. The theme this
year will be the importance of a shared experience seeing films in an
actual movie theatre. As such the Kodak (or whatever it’s called by show
time) will be outfitted like a classic movie palace. As for speeches
Mischer emphasized “Speak from the heart. Tell us how you feel. We hope
you will give that thought. Be memorable and you will be remembered. If
you just read off a long list of names no one will remember you,” he
said. Actually if Brad Pitt gets up and reads a list I have a feeling
people will still remember him. With that they rolled the annual Tom
Hanks filmed primer on the proper way to accept an Oscar.
If
only the Oscars ceremony could have the relaxed vibe of this event it
would be a completely different show. Academy first VP Hawk Koch says
it is a one-of-a-kind thing. “I just had the most incredible thing
happen to me here,” he said. ”I talked to (supporting actress
nominee) Octavia Spencer and she said, ‘don’t you remember me?’ I asked
where I met her and she said she was an assistant in the casting
department on The Long Walk Home, the movie I produced in Alabama in 1990!”
Only at the Oscar nominees lunch.
Monica Almeida/The New York TimesBrad Pitt at the Academy Award nominees luncheon.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.— If you believe in signs, they are pointing toward a longish Oscar show. The annual nominees luncheon here
on Monday went long, at any rate. The yearly gathering of as many Oscar
nominees as will attend (this year 150 showed up) was scheduled to last
between noon and 2 p.m. in the International Ballroom of the Beverly
Hilton Hotel. But it was 2:08 by the time Ric Robertson, the chief
operating officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
got around to introducing Brian Grazer and Don Mischer, who will be
producing the Feb. 26 Oscar ceremony.
Mr. Grazer promised a show
that will have comedy, class, and be on time. “I think it’s gonna be
fun,” he offered, sounding just a little big like his “aw-shucks”
movie-producing partner, Ron Howard.
But some minutes later, a video homily by Tom Hanks on how to give a short Oscar speech was still unspooling its tips, as nominees like Glenn Close and hangers-on like this reporter slipped out the ballroom door.
Tom
Sherak, the academy’s president, had opened the luncheon with an
admonition that the Oscar show should last only three hours. But even
the nominees luncheon stretched toward that mark. That was partly
because Mr. Sherak spoke at length, and made a point of introducing the
new talent manager for the Oscar show, the outgoing talent manager, the
supervising producer, 29 of the academy’s governors and a whole pack of
past presidents.
Then came the
ritual nominees photograph, and the handing out of nomination
certificates, one by one, in alphabetical order. Meryl Streep, deep into
the “S”s, gamely lounged on the top row of a stadium-style photo set,
waiting for the likes of Aaron Sorkin and Olivia Spencer to pick up
their certificates first.
You have to wonder what Ms. Streep does
with all those certificates — this is her 17th. Maybe that’s what she
and Brad Pitt were chit-chatting about while they waited their turn.
Notably, Mr. Pitt took a spot next to Ms. Streep in the top row, even
though the other “P”s were generally aligned a step or two beneath.
Stars attract stars of similar magnitude, it seems. Max von Sydow
had an even longer wait for his certificate. But Mr. von Sydow was
incredibly close, as he sat in the front row rather than standing way on
top, and the applause when he stepped up was extremely loud. The last
guy to get his honor was Steve Zaillian,
as a writer of “Moneyball.” As a life-long member of the “Z”s,
alphabetically speaking, Mr. Zaillian looked resigned to his long wait
in line. He lounged against a rail on the top row, waited for Michelle Williams and one or two others to pick up their paperwork, then picked up his, with a smile for the crowd.
If the Oscars are just a little over two weeks away, it must mean it's lunchtime.
The Beverly Hilton hotel was packed earlier today for the Academy's annual nominees luncheon.
What went down and what was everyone talking about?
Things got off to a nice start when George Clooney announced to reporters during the pre-lunch press conferences, "I thought I'd get here early—free booze!" Rooney Mara was in Indianapolis yesterday for the
Super Bowl. If for some reason you don't know by now, the Mara family
owns the New York Giants. "It was really fun," she said. "It was very
exciting. It was great." The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star said she hasn't found an Oscar dress yet. She also told me that she's "signed up for the other two" Dragon Tattoo flicks, "but I'm not sure when we're going to start doing them." Jonah Hill said he has been the victim of Moneyball costar Brad Pitt's pranks. "I call him the Bobby Fischer of pranks because you try to prank him and he's immediately three moves ahead of you," Hill explained.
Pitt revealed that fellow Best Actor nominee Demián Bichir gave him a bottle of tequila from his native Mexico.
Bichir said he hoped his nomination for his work as an immigrant worker in Los Angeles in A Better Life
would bring more attention to immigration issues. "This could make a
big difference if the right people see the film, if the guys in
Congress take a look at it and get touched by it," he said.
The one awkward moment during the press conference? When a reporter from French newspaper Le Monde asked The Artist star Jean Dujardin if he thought his recent naughty movie poster controversy would hurt his chances of winning the Oscar.
Said reporter was immediately shut down when the press conference moderator cut her off and moved on to the next question.
Once inside the ballroom, nominees were called onto the
wooden riser for the annual portrait. They were then given
certificates and a commemorative sweatshirt. Yup, a sweatshirt!
Oscar coproducer Brian Grazer and Don Mischer
announced that the home of the Oscars, the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood,
would be transformed to have the look of a "timeless" movie house for
the big night.
A short film narrated by Tom Hanks about the do's and don'ts of an Oscar acceptance speech followed.
The take away? Make it memorable, but no more than the allotted 45 seconds.
Because no one likes being cut off by the orchestra.
Academy Award winning actress Angelina
Jolie sat down with Jeffrey Brown to discuss, "In the Land of Blood and
Honey," her directorial debut. Jolie admits the film, which takes an
unflinching look at the mass rape and ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian
War in the 1990s, is "a hard movie to watch, but it is intentionally
so."
GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight, an unflinching look back at the war in Bosnia, as told by Angelina Jolie.
Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with the Oscar-winning actress and the stars of her new film.
JEFFREY BROWN: She's one of the most recognizable women in the world, an actress who often appears in glamorous or action roles. ANGELINA JOLIE (in character): Have you violated international law? JEFFREY BROWN: But for her latest movie, Angelina
Jolie has stepped behind the camera as a first-time director and writer,
and tackled a very serious subject, indeed.
"In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a fictional account of events of
the war in Bosnia of the 1990s, in which more than 100,000 people were
killed amid ethnic cleansing and brutal atrocities against civilians,
including systematic rape.
Ms. Jolie, why the war in Bosnia? Was it something that you knew about long ago as it was happening or that you learned about? ANGELINA JOLIE: It was something that I knew very little of and always felt a responsibility to learn more. JEFFREY BROWN: Responsibility? Why? ANGELINA JOLIE: As a human being, because I was 17
when it started. And I had spent the last 10 years traveling the world
and going to conflicts zones and post-conflict zones and meeting people
who had suffered through war and really seeing the state of people who
-- as I worked so hard on how do you help countries heal, or how do you
return people to areas, or how do you help people get past the trauma
they face, you often question, why did it have to go this far?
So, this question of intervention, this question of just war itself.
And then Bosnia just was always ringing in my mind in this -- what was
that? How did that happen in the '90s? How did that go on for four years
with nobody doing anything 40 minutes from Italy? How -- and then the
more I read about the rape camps and the concentration camps, and -- I
just couldn't -- I just couldn't understand it.
And I wanted to understand it. And so I decided to do a project that I
thought was going to remain private on my desk to give myself an
education. JEFFREY BROWN: The private research led to the idea
for the film, one in which Jolie used Bosnian actors, including Zana
Marjanovic and Goran Kostic in the lead roles.
Their characters share a complicated love affair twisted by the
viciousness of war, he a Serbian soldier, she a Muslim artist taken
captive.
I wonder, how was making this film, because of its subject matter, different from other acting that you've done? ZANA MARJANOVIC, actress: It was very different. It
was -- first of all, it's personal. You know, it's -- I was born in
Bosnia. And I live there now. And it's very personal in that way. So
it's a huge responsibility at the same time to play a character that
lives in a historical period. JEFFREY BROWN: You felt that while you were doing it? ZANA MARJANOVIC: I felt that while I was doing it every today. GORAN KOSTIC, actor: Indeed, it was very important
to get it right, to be genuine and honest, not just to ourselves, of
course, but to the public and to the script.
So we knew that we were treading a finding a very specific line. I
think, if we kind of slowly lose our balance and push it to much in one
side or the other, we might actually not do justice to the victims of
the war. JEFFREY BROWN: It was hard to watch. Was it hard to make? ZANA MARJANOVIC: Yes, it was very difficult. You
know, our first scene, the first day, the first scene we shot is
actually when the women are taken off the bus and train to concentration
camp and where the first rape happens.
So this is the first scene we did. And it was -- we just -- and
talked about it later on. And I thought, God, why did we have to do that
scene first? And it was a very good point that Angelina Jolie made. She
said, you know, we need to know that there will be no easy scenes in
this film. JEFFREY BROWN: Off-screen, it seems Angelina Jolie
has two very different personas, celebrity and tabloid regular married
to Brad Pitt, and the advocate for human rights who serves as a U.N.
goodwill ambassador, with particular attention to the plight of women.
You know, another notable aspect, clearly, is the focus on women.
Most war films are about the men fighting. This was clearly conscious
for you. Important to you? ANGELINA JOLIE: It is. Very. And it was very
specific to this war. It wasn't that I -- as I learned about this war, I
just met with so many women. And they told me their firsthand accounts
of being raped or being held and used as a human shield or watching
their mothers being forced to strip and dance naked in front of soldiers
and face the humiliation. JEFFREY BROWN: You know,this is
harrowing and powerful, but not a fun or easy night at the movies,
right? Is it your sense that Hollywood, I don't know, and filmmakers too
often avoid taking on subjects like this, tough subjects? ANGELINA JOLIE: Well, I know -- I know these are
hard films to watch. I mean, they're the films I like to watch. But I
also know that when life is hard for people, and the economy has been
very hard, and people have been in a really tough state these days, I
also know the need for escapism, and I understand that. . . JEFFREY BROWN: You've been part of that. ANGELINA JOLIE: And I've been a big part of that.
And I -- you know, but these are the movies I like to watch, because,
at the end of the day, I think people innately want to be responsible.
We want to know what's happening around us. We want to be a part of the
world, be in the world and of the world.
And it is a hard movie to watch, but it is intentionally so. And
you're going to want to get out of that theater and you're going to want
somebody to stop it. And you're going to wish that this wasn't -- and
what it is, is, it's still a movie. It's not even real, and it's as
upsetting as it is. So, it forces people to wonder what it must have
really been like. JEFFREY BROWN: And one more thing. This is your
directing debut. How did that compare to acting? Is it, I don't know,
more fun, less fun, more fulfilling, less fulfilling? ANGELINA JOLIE: Yeah, it was so different, because
this one for me was -- I love history. And I love social -- I'm very
interested in social issues and women's issues, of course.
And so this was a labor of love on so many levels. And then I also --
creatively, I have worked with a lot of actors and a lot of people
around the world, but I have never worked with people from Yugoslavia.
And they are an extraordinary bunch of people, so not only
extraordinarily talented, but also just a life, a life that they brought
to the set, the music and the culture and the -- so, it was -- I felt
like I was welcomed into a world, not just learning about a history, but
into a family.
And so it was the best experience I've ever had on film. JEFFREY BROWN: "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is now in select theaters across the country.
I
might as well quickly get out of the way the most obvious detail: Yes,
Angelina Jolie is an attractive human being, this day exuding more
seriousness of purpose than glamor. But I left thinking less about her
than about the strange experience of interviewing her. Let me try to
explain.
First some background: Jolie has written and directed her first film and it is a very serious affair, indeed. "In the Land of Blood and Honey"
is a dramatic account of events during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s,
in which more than 100,000 were killed amid ethnic cleansing and
atrocities against civilians, including systematic rape. Jolie has
worked hard, with a cast of superb Bosnian actors, to capture the horror
and brutality through the lives of her characters. It is, at times,
hard to watch.
Last week, we received an email telling us that Jolie would be in
Washington and available for interviews at such and such hotel. Would we
be interested? Well, yes. It all sounded straightforward enough. But
then we experienced the strange world of the celebrity "press junket." I
admit it: We at the NewsHour are generally sheltered and spoiled. I
have the enormous privilege of talking to great writers, musicians,
actors and other artists who really want to talk to us and who are often
very ready and willing to give us the time and space that our long-form
style calls for. But this, the junket, was something quite different.
We were invited -- along with many others. More than a dozen
interviews in a few hours: It's an efficient way for the star to do her
publicity. And efficiency and precision were the order of the day. A
small army of publicists handed out time slots, showed us to the
"hospitality suite" to wait, asked us outside the interview room when
our turn was near, ushered us in and ushered us out. Next, next, next
and thank you and thank you. Our first time slot, to interview two of
the actors, was set for 3:16-3:24 p.m.(!), including greeting, putting
on microphones, quick camera check and so on. So, we were told, you'll
have about five minutes for the interview, strictly timed and enforced.
Second interview, with Jolie and another actor, from 3:24-3:32 p.m. Same
deal -- though even more strict because this involved Jolie herself.
Precision and control -- I had to laugh: Just the week before I'd gone to the Pentagon to interview Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
The Jolie press junket, as it turned out, was a far more controlled and
patrolled affair! Please understand: I don't mean to complain, just to
note. And to take the thought further: There is great artifice in
television, more than we usually like to talk about. When I sit in a
television studio with someone who looks a bit nervous, I might say:
"Don't worry, it's just the two of us at a table having a conversation.
Just like real life." Sure! Just like real life with lots of cameras,
lights, time cues, a control room full of people watching nearby, a
million and more others watching on sets around the country and the
world (including the guest's loved ones, praying he or she doesn't faint
or freeze up on live television).
When we go on the road for stories, we have equipment, lights and
usually a small team of people creating the very "intimate" moments you
see. My favorite story along these lines happened last year in a very
small rural village in Haiti. After shooting our interviews, we wanted
to capture some scenes of village life. A woman was sweeping her steps.
Our cameraman began to roll. The woman looked at the camera. Our
producer explained that it doesn't work if she's looking right at the
camera. "Just act naturally. Pretend we're not here." To which the woman
responded: "How can I pretend you're not here when you just spoke to
me? You ARE here." A very wise woman. We could only laugh.
So, plenty of artifice goes into the creation of television stories.
The press junket was a small corner of that world offering a bit of
reality (yes, I was in the room and spoke to Jolie) and a bit of
illusion (we were the tiniest part of the tame pack).
Does this matter? Perhaps not -- it's the result that finally counts
most. Jolie and the actors were passionate and as engaged as they could
be under the circumstances. You can decide for yourself when you see our
final piece. But sometimes -- for me, at least -- the process is as
interesting as the product.
And no, I did not ask -- and have no new information -- about Brad or any marriage plans.
Jeffrey Brown's conversation with Angelina Jolie about her film, "In
the Land of Blood and Honey," will air on Tuesday's NewsHour.
Willie Waffle met up with Angelina Jolie while she was here
in DC promoting the release of her latest film, In the Land of Blood and
Honey, which she wrote/directed and produced. See the interview again
on Sunday, January 15th at 10 a.m. on DC50's NewsPlus.
To the Contrary | Angelina Jolie full interview | PBS
Uploaded by PBS on Jan 13, 2012
Angelina Jolie and stars of In the Land of Blood and Honey to Bonnie Erbe of PBS' To the Contrary about the movie and Jolie's debut as a writer-director
President Obama met with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the White
House Wednesday. The power couple was in Washington, D.C. for a
screening of "In the Land of Blood and Honey," a film Jolie directed
about the Bosnian War.
Jolie spoke with CBSNews.com Tuesday about her directorial debut.
"I
sat down at my computer one day very frustrated with violence against
women and lack of intervention," Jolie, who is also a Goodwill
Ambassador to the United Nations, said
.
"I always felt
guilty about how little I knew about Bosnia and I always felt a
responsibility to find out what happened to my generation."
"In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a love story set against the
backdrop of a war that tore apart the Balkan region in the 1990s. Jolie
characterized the film as "heavy" for its scenes depicting genocide,
rape and brutality.
"The more I read, the more I learned,
I was shocked at how little had been spoken about and I felt compelled
to tell the story," Jolie said.
Jolie cast many people for whom this story was very personal.
One
of the leads, Vanessa Glodjo, was born and raised in Bosnia and told
CBSNews.com working on the film was a "beautiful opportunity."
CBS
News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell reports White
House advisers Samantha Powers, Valerie Jarrett and Bill Daley were also
present for Jolie and Pitt's meeting in the Oval Office Wednesday.
Pitt also attended Tuesday's screening at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Star talks politics, international intervention on eve of directorial debut
By Peter Suderman - Special to The Washington Times
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Angelina Jolie
seems anxious. She’s picking up bits of lint from the table in front of
her, flattening out tiny creases in the tablecloth. Dressed in a
flowing white blouse that contrasts with her sharp physical geometry,
she speaks quickly, as if she has more ideas than she can fit into any
single sentence. “I don’t want to get political,” she told The
Washington Times this week, “but it’s impossible in Washington.”
It’s
not only Washington that’s making it difficult to avoid politics. It’s
the project she came to the city to promote, “In the Land of Blood and
Honey.” A stark, ferocious movie about atrocity and violent ethnic
conflict set in the Bosnian war of the early 1990s, the film has
received mixed reviews but a number of compliments for Miss Jolie’s unsparing direction in her debut outing behind the camera.
“Blood
and Honey,” opening Friday in the District, is part love story, part
war movie, part somber monument to the war crimes - including mass rape
and genocidal massacres - that occurred throughout the war. And
according to Miss Jolie, it’s also a brief for humanitarian intervention.
Miss Jolie, who also wrote the screenplay (based on a story she sketched out in her journal while visiting Bosnia),
says she doesn’t think of the film as having a partisan tilt in the
ethnic strife endemic to the region. “It is very nuanced, intentionally
nuanced,” she said. “It’s not black and white. I’m not choosing sides.
The message is that there are these horrible things in our history, and
we can’t forget them.”
But Miss Jolie
doesn’t think it’s enough merely to remember what happened. The
Oscar-winning actress, a longtime humanitarian advocate who meets
frequently with political leaders and global refugees as part of her
role as a U.N.
special envoy, says the movie is also intended as a jolt to help
viewers realize “what a horrible thing we did, internationally, to not
help these people in a timely fashion. And the fact that we still
aren’t, I don’t think, doing enough.”
What particularly upsets her about the conflict in Bosnia
- and part of what drew her to the story - is that it’s so modern, and
yet, she thinks, already overlooked. “The fact that this happened in the
‘90s,” she said, “just a few years after the Olympics were there,” in
Sarajevo, a city that underwent the longest siege since World War II, is
something that more people need to understand.
Miss Jolie is connected enough to world affairs that she casually mentions having communicated with the U.N.
that morning, and easily brings up technical differences in various
international court powers. But she doesn’t think others are paying
enough attention. “The world still needs to be aware” of many conflicts
going on today, she said. “We don’t want to have to do another film in
15 years about another situation.”
But if something must be done, the question is: What? And that’s where Miss Jolie has less to say. Miss Jolie
has visited Turkey to meet with Syrian refugees and dissenters who fled
government persecution and says we “need to be doing more” to help the
region. But when asked how she might feel about a U.N. resolution to topple the country’s government, she ducked.
“I certainly don’t know the answer,” Miss Jolie
said. “But I spend time in that part of the world a lot. And I try to
get to know people from that part of the world and listen to them.”
Those
conversations have given rise to acceptance of the complexities and
potential problems of intervention, which she worries can be just as
dangerous as the situations they are designed to stop. “We have to make
sure that whatever comes next isn’t worse,” she says. “It’s not just
about removing somebody.”
And what about her role? She will continue to work with the U.N. and meet with world leaders, as well as remain active in the Council on Foreign Relations, which she joined in 2007.
A
big part of her contribution, though, is making the movie; she and
husband Brad Pitt reportedly had to finance much of the film’s $13
million budget themselves. She also has been on an aggressive promotion
tour that’s as much about getting the message out as it is about selling
the movie. “If art in any way can be of assistance, it should be,” she
explains.
The movie, is “for Bosnia,” she says. “It’s for dialogue. To remind people that there are still fresh wounds, and they deserve our support.”
The biggest newspaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina “Dnevni avaz” (Daily
Voice) from Sarajevo with the highest circulation in the region awarded
Hollywood super star Angelina Jolie with their traditional “Person of
the Year” (for 2011), for her film “In The Land Of Blood and Honey”,
that was written and directed by Ms. Jolie.
The film is an intimate drama about Bosnian war (1992 – 1995), about a
Bosnian Muslim woman and Bosnian Serb soldier who happened to run the
concentration camp, where Bosnian Muslim women are being raped. The Avaz
Award (Person of the Year 2011) was given to Angelina Jolie by Avaz’s
UN and US correspondent, veteran Bosnian journalist Erol Avdovic in
Washington just hours before her film was screened in US Holocaust
Museum in Washington D.C.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
I
might as well quickly get out of the way the most obvious detail: Yes,
Angelina Jolie is an attractive human being, this day exuding more
seriousness of purpose than glamor. But I left thinking less about her
than about the strange experience of interviewing her. Let me try to
explain.
