Current Events > Angelina Jolie's Unconventional Method for Casting Her Latest Movie

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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.”

https://www.thecut.com/2017/07/angelina-jolie-had-anunconventional-casting-session.html


http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/angelina-jolie-cover-story


What a goddamn awful person, seriously, fuck her.
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Holy shit. Why would she think fucking with kids like that is a good idea?
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Yeesh what the hell? Sounds like an asshole thing to do. You shouldn't just play with the emotions of children, especially on such a touchy subject.
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How is money going to help with a funeral after the fact lmao. that kid was lying hardcore, probably gonna spend it on booze.
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>orphan
>grandfather
>told to lie

nice try kiddo
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It's a game. The kids knew it wasn't real.

I don't see how this is a bad thing exactly. She's about to turn an orphan into a movie star.
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That's some Stanley Kubrick levels of sociopathic directorial behavior. Damn.


<_<

Oh well, either way you know she's a good choice for the part.
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She's always been fucking weird and crazy

ClockworkHare posted...

Oh well, either way you know she's a good choice for the part.

*head tilt*

The rich liberals literally playing with people's lives, wow
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Skye Reynolds posted...

ClockworkHare posted...

Oh well, either way you know she's a good choice for the part.

*head tilt*

The child either genuinely suffered a despairing life of poverty and would have a keen understanding of how to play the part. She would also have incentive to act well for a chance of stardom and a better life.

Or she's a talented liar so convincing that she's a natural for acting.
Either way it could lead to a believable performance.

The method of selection was certainly unconventional, but I also consider the potential results. It's really not much different than what the fictional Will Wonka did to lure out a suitable heir in the original movie. It's also not the first time the movie business has used unorthodox methods for choosing a cast. Child actors are no exceptions. And I suspect the other children were likely compensated in some way for auditioning. It would be crude to dangle money in front of them and then shove them out the door empty handed. I doubt that's what happened.

As long as the children were compensated for their time, I see no cruelty in how the auditions were performed. Only crafty eccentricity to find an exceptional choice.
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This movies sounds like a shitshow
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This is the kind of next level delusion people have when they're surrounded in nothing but admirers and yes-men their entire lives.
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I'm benefitting her the gift of doubt that when written down by journalists rather than communicated directly it seems worse than it is.

ClockworkHare posted...

Skye Reynolds posted...

ClockworkHare posted...

Oh well, either way you know she's a good choice for the part.

*head tilt*

The child either genuinely suffered a despairing life of poverty and would have a keen understanding of how to play the part. She would also have incentive to act well for a chance of stardom and a better life.

Or she's a talented liar so convincing that she's a natural for acting.
Either way it could lead to a believable performance.

The method of selection was certainly unconventional, but I also consider the potential results. It's really not much different than what the fictional Will Wonka did to lure out a suitable heir in the original movie. It's also not the first time the movie business has used unorthodox methods for choosing a cast. Child actors are no exceptions. And I suspect the other children were likely compensated in some way for auditioning. It would be crude to dangle money in front of them and then shove them out the door empty handed. I doubt that's what happened.

As long as the children were compensated for their time, I see no cruelty in how the auditions were performed. Only crafty eccentricity to find an exceptional choice.

Agree
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Jolie, who directed the film, said the audition “game” described in the profile was an improvisation exercise based off a scene in the film. She also said real money was not taken from children during the auditions.

“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,” said Jolie, a United Nations special envoy for refugees. “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.”

Something to consider.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/angelina-jolie-denies-vanity-fair-profile-auditions_us_597cf41ae4b02a8434b6d1e4
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