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December 8, 2011

A Chat With Angelina Jolie

By Amy Wicks

A CHAT WITH ANGELINA: After the fawning red-carpet interviews and the press junkets are over, Hollywood actors and directors have been known to sneak into a local theater the day their movies open, to see how the general public will react. This will not be the case for Angelina Jolie when her directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” is released nationwide on Dec. 23. “I think I was one of the few directors, when they first screened the movie, who didn’t actually see it,” said Jolie, minutes before a Marie Claire event at Hearst Tower on Tuesday night. “I stayed home and turned off my phone. There are a lot of films I’ve done that I haven’t seen. With this [her new film] I just asked the cast if they were alright after [the premiere on Monday]. There is no greater judge than the people who lived through this war.”

Following the screening at Hearst, Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Marie Claire, held a question-and-answer session with the entire cast, including Jolie, who was moved to tears at times, when a few people in the audience told her about their experiences of living through the war. “I have met so many people post-conflict and it has broken my heart to see what war does and how it leaves people in pieces,” said Jolie. “You’ll sit through two hours [for the film]. They lived this for over three years.”

WWD on B&H

December 6, 2011

Angelina Jolie Premieres 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'

By Alexandra Steigrad

Angelina Jolie

Photo By Steve Eichner

Launch Slideshow

Stella and Julian Schnabel

Photo By Steve Eichner

Launch Slideshow

Despite the presence of a bright red carpet, marauding paparazzi and lingering clusters of autograph-hungry fans at the School of Visual Arts Theater in Manhattan, Monday night’s premiere of “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” a film written and directed by Angelina Jolie, was not a typical movie premiere.

Co-sponsored by WomenforWomen.org and the Council on Foreign Relations, the historical drama set during the Bosnian War felt more like the opening of a foreign film than the splashy directorial debut of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. But that’s how Jolie wanted it. Dressed in an understated black top and matching floor-length Ralph Lauren skirt and a gold dome Ofira necklace, the star arrived last with Brad Pitt, who posed for photos before greeting fans. That gave the film’s cast, a collection of relatively unknown Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian actors, many of whom lived through the Bosnian War, ample time to discuss the delicate subject matter.

“We all knew why we were doing the film,” said lead actress Zana Marjanovic. “It’s such a noble idea and it’s so important for us as Bosnians and the entire ex-Yugoslavians to work on this together.”

Filmed in Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles, “In the Land of Blood and Honey” centers on a love story between a Bosnian woman and a Serbian soldier, who simultaneously becomes her captor and protector once the war breaks out.

“I think this film is going to be very different for many people to see,” Jolie said, referring to the juxtaposition of love and the “horribly brutal” acts of violence, including graphic rape scenes. “I think love is tested because there is love of country, your sense of loyalty, your love of yourself, survival and how that comes into play…and how war can tear apart people who feel kindness and love.”

While the theme of star-crossed lovers is somewhat cliché, Jolie’s storytelling is nuanced, raw — and surprising.

Comparing Jolie’s treatment of the film’s plot to “The Battle of Algiers” and “The Night Porter,” director Julian Schabel focused on the artistic merit of the film and its message.

“I know as much about the Bosnian War as the next swinging d--k,” he said. “I don’t know as much about that, but I do know something about movies.”

LV Ad

Angelina Jolie Poses for Louis Vuitton’s 'Core Values' Campaign

by Miles Socha, WWD

Posted Monday June 13, 2011

Angeline Jolie photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Louis Vuitton.

Photo By Courtesy Photo

She’s barefoot, wearing her own clothes, no makeup and toting her own elegantly weathered monogrammed Alto bag. Yet Angelina Jolie looks radiant and completely in her element, reclining on a wooden boat in a verdant, lakeside landscape in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. Jolie discovered the country in 2000 when she filmed “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” and it sparked her humanitarian activism.

She’s the latest celebrity to pose for Louis Vuitton’s popular “Core Values” campaign — and surely the only one who brought four children to the photo shoot, some of whom had to be shooed out of Annie Leibovitz’s frame.

“People are not used to seeing Angelina in this situation,” said Pietro Beccari, Vuitton’s executive vice president, unveiling the image exclusively to WWD. “I like the fact that it’s a real moment. This travel message we give through personal journeys is a fundamental one for the brand.”

The ad is slated to break in the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday, followed by a range of news, general interest and lifestyle publications, including Vanity Fair.

Beccari declined to disclose budgets for the media buy, or comment on reports Vuitton paid the American actress millions for the shoot. He would only say Jolie donated an undisclosed portion of her fees to a charity.

The campaign is expected to run for at least 18 months alongside a few other recent “core values” personalities, including Bono and Sean Connery. Vuitton introduced the advertising concept in 2007 as a way to trumpet its travel roots and showcase its perennial monogrammed leather goods as a balance to its fashion-driven marketing — and to reach a broader audience. Other personalities who have posed for Vuitton include Mikhail Gorbachev, Keith Richards and Catherine Deneuve.

Also on Wednesday, Vuitton plans to post a teaser on its Web site, louisvuittonjourneys.com/cambodia, foreshadowing an interview with Jolie that will be posted later in the month. In it, she is expected to discuss how her visit to Cambodia was a life-changing experience, awakening her to the plight of Third World countries. She adopted her eldest son, Maddox, from Cambodia and she and husband Brad Pitt established the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which is active in community development and conservation in the country.

“This campaign is about a very special person and a very special journey,” Beccari said.

And a storied handbag. Beccari showed off several paparazzi shots of Jolie toting the Alto carryall, which is believed to be at least six years old. The style is no longer in production, but “we are considering to re-edit it,” Beccari noted.