Look, it’s important to recognise that no matter what – no matter what kind of wonderful charity or philanthropic work they do – celebrities do not think about the world the way that normal people think about the world, because they have weird rich person brains.
This universal maxim was apparently proven over the weekend by a strange little anecdote about Angelina Jolie – basically the ultimate icon for celebs trying to give a little back. An excerpt from a profile of Jolie in Vanity Fair suggested she auditioned children for the film ‘First They Killed My Father’ with a… reasonably sociopathic little game.
And I quote:
To cast the children in the film, Jolie looked at orphanages, circuses, and slum schools, specifically seeking children who had experienced hardship. In order to find their lead, to play young Loung Ung, the casting directors set up a game, rather disturbing in its realism: they put money on the table and asked the child to think of something she needed the money for, and then to snatch it away. The director would pretend to catch the child, and the child would have to come up with a lie. “Srey Moch [the girl ultimately chosen for the part] was the only child that stared at the money for a very, very long time,” Jolie says. “When she was forced to give it back, she became overwhelmed with emotion. All these different things came flooding back.” Jolie then tears up. “When she was asked later what the money was for, she said her grandfather had died, and they didn’t have enough money for a nice funeral.”
Shockingly, people were somewhat appalled by this little anecdote as soon as it hit social media.
Why would Angelina Jolie subject impoverished children to this cruel scheme? https://t.co/BTAOugEPST pic.twitter.com/oDmNS07CYC
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 26, 2017
Angelina Jolie is crazy. What a cruel psychological game to play with impoverished children. pic.twitter.com/iAEUhINBui
— Denizcan S. (@MrFilmkritik) July 26, 2017
https://twitter.com/annaesilman/status/890296798497189889
I mean, no matter which way you look at it, it’s a risky thing to tell an interviewer. The optics, they’re not so good.
Now Jolie has released a statement to clarify that little interview tidbit, defending the production of the film, and suggesting that everything was above board. Basically, she says it was a “pretend exercise in an improvisation” and that the children in question knew they were playing a “game”.
Here’s her statement in full:
Every measure was taken to ensure the safety, comfort and well-being of the children on the film starting from the auditions through production to the present. Parents, guardians, partner NGOs whose job it is to care for children, and medical doctors were always on hand everyday, to ensure everyone had all they needed. And above all to make sure that no one was in any way hurt by participating in the recreation of such a painful part of their country’s history.
I am upset that a pretend exercise in an improvisation, from an actual scene in the film, has been written about as if it was a real scenario. The suggestion that real money was taken from a child during an audition is false and upsetting. I would be outraged myself if this had happened.
The point of this film is to bring attention to the horrors children face in war, and to help fight to protect them.
Rithy Panh, producer on the film, backed up Jolie’s point of view with his own statement, claiming the casting was done in the “most sensitive way possible” and that it was “explained to [the children] that they were going to be asked to act out a part”.
Well, that’s that then. It’s a pretty good response to what was a pretty bloody nuts thing to say to an interviewer without providing a little context.
