„I Wanted to Keep It as Far Away from Me as Possible”. Clint Eastwood's Movie Scared Angelina Jolie Enough That She Long Refused to Appear in It
Angelina Jolie was reluctant to appear in Clint Eastwood's film, which dealt with difficult subject matter. She was afraid of the story, but finally decided to give it a chance.
There are some films whose stories seem very personal to us and hit our emotions. Sometimes this can be felt even more strongly by the actors who appear in them, who have different reactions to the stories in question. When Angelina Jolie was offered a role in Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood, she reacted in a strong way – the subject covered in the film scared her so much that the actress did not want to appear in it.
Changeling tells the story of a mother who, after returning from work, discovers that her child has disappeared. After some time he is found, but her heart tells her that it is not her son at all. However, no one wants to believe her.
As a mother, Jolie took the story very personally, approaching it emotionally. She considered it every mother's nightmare, which she was afraid to relive even as an actress. In the end, however, she decided to give the movie a chance, wanting to tell the world about the experience of the Christine Collins she played.
[The idea of] anything happening to your kids… [That was] the reason I didn’t want to do the film for a long time. I read [the script] and wanted to keep it as far away from me as possible. But it’s also a great story of justice, and I love the film. But, no, every day on set, I came home, and I was so clingy to my kids. I think I bugged them.
For Jolie, this movie was special for many reasons. One of them was how the character she played reminded her of her own mother, who died a few months before the shooting of Changeling began.
This is personal, but it’s true, I lost my mother a few months before the film, and to me [Christine is] very much like my mother. My mother was very passive, in many ways, and very, very sweet, but when it came to her children she was a lion. But, as a woman, very shy almost with her own voice.
Jolie made the right decision by choosing to star in Eastwood's film, for which she was nominated for an Oscar and other major awards. The actress took the audience on an emotional journey of a mother, showing the power of maternal love.
