Angelina Jolie volunteered to do drug tests before & during ‘Lara Croft’

For all of us who were gossiping in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, we remember when Angelina Jolie was a “bad girl.” The ‘90s were dominated so heavily by actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder, but at the tail-end of the decade, Angelina emerged from the grunge, indie and goth morass and it was a joy to behold. She was provocative and confessional, an unapologetic vixen, and yet vulnerable. By the time the year 2000 rolled around, she already had an Oscar, three Golden Globes and husband #2, Billy Bob Thornton. So when Paramount was looking to cast their Lara Croft, they immediately wanted Angelina, but they were also concerned about all of the gossip about drug use, blood sacrifices and brother-kissing. Well, Paramount’s former studio head, Sherry Lansing, has a new memoir coming out, and Lansing tells all about the Jolie situation with regards to Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. You can read the full story here. Some highlights:

Angelina was the director’s choice: “She definitely had some baggage and something of a dark reputation,” said director Simon West. “Funnily enough, that was one of my selling points: This troubled and dangerous aspect in her reputation actually helped the character.”

Jon Voight called Sherry Lansing: Lansing was concerned, especially when Jon Voight (Jolie’s father) and Jane Fonda (a family friend) called to warn her that the actress was extremely fragile.

Drug testing Angelina: With Lansing’s blessing, West flew to Mexico to meet Jolie on the set of the thriller Original Sin. “She said: ‘Look, I want to do it, but I know what my reputation is, and I’ll do anything you want to prove that I’m worthy. I’ll be reliable, and I’ll turn up, and I’ll work hard,’ ” recalled West. “She said, ‘I don’t care if the studio wants to drug test me every day.’ ”
Lansing met with Jolie. “She was beyond beautiful,” she said. “She was smart, she was strong.” Negotiations commenced, and so did the drug tests. Said then-Para­mount president John Goldwyn, “We were sufficiently worried that we obliged her to undergo random drug tests — and not just urine tests but also blood tests.” To everyone’s relief, Jolie passed.

Even with the clean drug tests, the studio wanted a professional “handler”: The studio and producers were concerned enough to talk about keeping an eye on their star. “We would put a team around her for two purposes,” said a member of the production crew. “One really was practical: to get her into great shape for the movie, not only in terms of appearance but to do what she had to do onscreen. Then there was this notion that we had to give her spiritual and psychological support.”

The Jolie Wrangler: West suggested hiring Bobby Klein, a former photographer and therapist who he believed had the right kind of experience. “There were issues with the studio and producers being very nervous about Angelina,” he said. “There was a discussion with the group: ‘We’re looking for someone to oversee or keep an eye on her because we’re all making the film.’ That guy Bobby Klein came up as somebody who had worked in that world of psychotherapy or drug management or whatever. He was brought in to supervise Angelina.”

Klein was the difficult one: Klein alienated producers and people on the crew and he asked to be “placed in charge of Jolie’s physical preparation, even though a stunt coordinator was already working with her.” After Klein insisted on employing a health expert who had been investigated by Scotland Yard, the production team balked. “[The expert] wanted her to have milk baths and started talking about yoga and meditation and wanted to be the point person in charge of Angelina’s training,” said Lloyd Levin, who produced the film with Gordon. “It was just this bullsh-t. It seemed like spiritual hokum.”

Finally, Klein was thrown off the set: With Klein out of the way, Jolie was a dream. “In the dailies, she was riveting,” said Lansing. “She took what might have been a cardboard character and added a layer of mystery and emotion and humanity.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

So this is the real story behind “Angelina’s Drug Tests! Angelina’s Fake Spiritual Adviser! Angelina Takes Weird Milk Baths!” Those things were forced on her by the studio, although in the drug-test situation, it sounds more like an insurance thing more than anything else. Before Lara Croft, Angelina had been working on smaller films with no stunt work required. Because of the money involved with Lara Croft and the stunt-heavy action sequences, she would have needed to be massively insured by the studio, and that was likely one of the big reasons for the random drug testing. As for the spiritual adviser… gross. How is it a guy like that gets clearance just because he knows a guy, while Angelina had to jump through hoops to please the studio?

Photos courtesy of Paramount, WENN.