Angelina Jolie's Drug Tests, Harassment and Wacky "Spiritual Hokum" on the Set of 'Tomb Raider' (Exclusive Book Excerpt)
6:00 AM PDT 3/29/2017
by
Stephen Galloway
Few of Paramount's films under Sherry Lansing proved as complicated as 2001's
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,
which needed an actress sexual enough to resemble the computer creation
while accessibly human. Only one person could pull it off: Angelina
Jolie.
It was early 2000, and the 24-year-old (soon to win an Oscar) was not
yet a major star. She was plagued by damaging reports about her
personal life, rumored to have dabbled in drugs and to have had an odd
relationship with her brother, along with an even odder one with
soon-to-be husband Billy Bob Thornton, whose blood she reportedly
carried around her neck in a vial. "She definitely had some baggage and
something of a dark reputation," said director Simon West. "Funnily
enough, that was one of my selling points: This troubled and dangerous
aspect in her reputation actually helped the character."
Lansing was concerned, especially when Jon Voight (Jolie's father)
and Jane Fonda (a family friend) called to warn her that the actress was
extremely fragile. With Lansing's blessing, West flew to Mexico to meet
Jolie on the set of the thriller
Original Sin. "She said:
'Look, I want to do it, but I know what my reputation is, and I'll do
anything you want to prove that I'm worthy. I'll be reliable, and I'll
turn up, and I'll work hard,' " recalled West. "She said, 'I don't care
if the studio wants to drug test me every day.' "
Lansing met with Jolie. "She was beyond beautiful," she said. "She
was smart, she was strong." Negotiations commenced, and so did the drug
tests. Said then-Paramount president John Goldwyn, "We were
sufficiently worried that we obliged her to undergo random drug tests —
and not just urine tests but also blood tests."
To everyone's relief, Jolie passed. Even so, the studio and producers
were concerned enough to talk about keeping an eye on their star. "We
would put a team around her for two purposes," said a member of the
production crew. "One really was practical: to get her into great shape
for the movie, not only in terms of appearance but to do what she had to
do onscreen. Then there was this notion that we had to give her
spiritual and psychological support."
That's when the real problems began. West suggested hiring Bobby
Klein, a former photographer and therapist who he believed had the right
kind of experience. "There were issues with the studio and producers
being very nervous about Angelina," he said. "There was a discussion
with the group: 'We're looking for someone to oversee or keep an eye on
her because we're all making the film.' That guy Bobby Klein came up as
somebody who had worked in that world of psychotherapy or drug
management or whatever. He was brought in to supervise Angelina."
Relationships that had been tense became strained to the breaking
point, and producer Larry Gordon, who had battled the studio over money
and the script, bristled at Klein's presence. "Simon West comes with
this guy, Bobby Klein," said Gordon. "He's dressed all in black. He's a
weird-looking guy with a white beard and white hair. He's very esoteric
and gives me a thing that if you wear it, you can't get cancer, some
bullshit thing. [They said,] 'He's going to be a big help, and he's
going to do all these great things,' and so on and so forth."
As preproduction got underway in England, Klein asked to be placed in
charge of Jolie's physical preparation, even though a stunt coordinator
was already working with her. After Klein insisted on employing a
health expert who had been investigated by Scotland Yard, the production
team balked. "[The expert] wanted her to have milk baths and started
talking about yoga and meditation and wanted to be the point person in
charge of Angelina's training," said Lloyd Levin, who produced the film
with Gordon. "It was just this bullshit. It seemed like spiritual
hokum."
When Klein was then accused of sexually harassing West's assistant,
among other issues, he left the production. Gordon was ecstatic. "I
said, 'Angelina doesn't want you around, and I never wanted you around,
so your ass is gone. You can get your shit and go, or I can get security
to throw you off the lot. You decide.' He said, 'I still get my
expenses?' I said, 'Unfortunately, yes.' "
With Klein out of the way, Jolie was a dream. "In the dailies, she
was riveting," said Lansing. "She took what might have been a cardboard
character and added a layer of mystery and emotion and humanity."
Only at the end of the long, turbulent shoot did an accident occur,
when the actress fell and hurt her foot. "It's to be expected," said
Jolie. "After all the big stunts, I ended up hurting myself on a smaller
stunt. A big jump over a statue, and I landed badly on my ankle. A
partial tear, and I came back to work with a cane. Not very Croft."
Lansing, Jolie and then-Viacom Entertainment chairman Jonathan Dolgen at the June 11, 2001,
Tomb Raider premiere.
Tomb Raider made $275 million worldwide when it opened in
June 2001, enough to warrant a sequel. Lansing had launched a new
franchise at minimal cost to the studio and helped turn Jolie into a
major star. And yet the experience left the studio chief feeling empty.
She had been bothered for some time by her growing awareness that the
quality of pictures no longer seemed essential, that clever sales
strategies could redeem all but the most abysmal of movies. When she
revealed her fears to Rob Friedman, her vice chairman and a marketing
expert, he dismissed them. "Don't worry," he said. "You can spend all
this money to improve the picture, but it won't make the tiniest
difference to how much it brings in."
Adapted from Leading
Lady:
Sherry
Lansing
and
the
Making
of
a
Hollywood
Groundbreaker
©2017 by Stephen Galloway. To be released by Crown Archetype, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on April 25. It's available for preorder now.
This story first appeared in the March 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Graham King’s GK Films has acquired the film rights to Tomb Raider with the intention of rebooting the video game franchise on the big screen by 2013.
