ANGELINA Jolie may have taken on some extreme roles in the past, but seeing herself for the first time as a naked, gold, reptilian seductress in the new computer-animated movie, Beowulf, still took her by surprise.
“I got a little shy,” she laughs.
“I didn’t expect ourselves to come out as much, or it to feel as real.
“So I called home and explained the kind of fun movie that I had done - and that this digital animation was, in fact, a little different than what we were expecting.
“I was really surprised that I felt that exposed.”
Beowulf is an action-packed blockbuster, created on computer graphic imagery (CGI), based on a mythical, centuries-old tale.
It chronicles the exploits of the mighty warrior Beowulf (Ray Winstone), who kills the demon Grendel, only to incur the hellish wrath of the beast’s ruthlessly seductive mother, played by Jolie.
All actors had to have their bodies “mapped” so they could be recreated in CGI as animated fantasy characters and creatures.
Three months pregnant during the two-and-a-half days she spent on this film - which included having her body mapped for computer-generated imaging - Jolie hugely enjoyed her demonic role in this tale of vikings, power and lust.
“I’ve got kids and I thought: ‘This is so great - I am going to be this crazy, reptilian person and creature’,” she says.
“I was very excited. She is one of those fun characters. She’s evil. She’s temptation. She is just one of those fun characters to play.”
The actress in Jolie wanted the opportunity to work in the unusual and up-and-coming film-making style of CGI.
Director Robert Zemeckis created the film using a motion-capture computer program.
The actors worked in an empty room, wearing nothing but body suits covered with hundredsof yellow dots.
Those dots were used to record the information needed to make the animated version of the actor’s performance.
The role also gives 32-year-old Jolie another diverse film credit, on a resume that already includes Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Shark Tale and A Mighty Heart.
Jolie says she was excited about the opportunity to work with Zemeckis, the man behind such films as Back To The Future and the first full-length CGI film, The Polar Express.
In fact, she was so excited about the opportunity that Jolie was agreeable to anything that was tossed her way.
“I was told I was going to play a lizard. Then I was brought into a room with Bob and all these pictures. He showed me this picture of a woman, half-painted gold and then a lizard,” Jolie says.
Who wouldn’t want to play a role that, at times, is a green, slimy creature who lives in the water _ and at other times looks like a Victoria’s Secret model, who forgot to dress for work?
The character in the animated film is a lizard-like shape-shifter, which takes on a revealing human form when she tries to seduce Beowulf.
That Grendel’s mother has such a perfect form shows the power of computers.
“I was three months pregnant when they filmed me,” Jolie says.
She pauses, flashes a coy smile, then adds: “Actually, they did map my body before I got pregnant”.
As to how her on-screen body looks, Jolie smiles and almost purrs: “I liked my tail”.
She’s okay with the image now. There were moments, when she worked on the film, that she had a few doubts.
“I got a little shy,” Jolie says. “I didn’t expect it to feel as real.”
She felt exposed at times because of the digital animation process and having to wear the body suit.
You’d think she would be used to the exposure. Jolie’s public life with Brad Pitt is documented by armies of paparazzi and journalists.
I try not to think about my public life and focus on my private life and that is just the best way to live”, she says.
Jolie worked only a few days on Beowulf, but the shoot was demanding.
She had to wear a harness to pretend to swim and fly. Zemeckis even had the actress learn Old English, to use when talking with Grendel.
Despite the fact that what is seen on screen is just a computer-generated version of Jolie’s movements, she praised Zemeckis for treating the movie like a piece of art, rather than just another business project.
“I think the nice thing for all of us these days is that we all do films and it has become such a business.
Or so much of it - there are these projects where people just want to rush through it. You lose touch with the artistic process and the fun of it,” Jolie says.
“And Bob is a real artist. And he loves it so much. And he is so enthusiastic and so original. And so you remember that you are a creative person and you have fun with everybody else.
“I needed that as an artist.”
February 24th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I am a fan of Angelina too..i posted on my blog about the anaplasty pacients who want a posterior like her