There are moments that happen in your life that will forever bring a smile to your face. For me, one of those moments was meeting Angelina Jolie. I’m not saying this because she is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, I am saying this because she is an amazing person inside and outside of Hollywood and it was truly and honor to get to meet her. This past week I got a chance to sit down with Angelina and chat with her about life, parenting, her humanitarian work, Maleficent and yes she even mentioned BRAD a few times!
Before Angelina walked into the room, you could literally hear a pin drop because I think most of us “mommy bloggers” were pretty nervous.
We had no idea what to expect, I mean come on this was Angelina Jolie! But from the moment she walked through the doors wearing a beautiful black lace dress with a huge smile on her face, our minds were put to ease. First and foremost she was a mom just like all of us and we all instantly had a connection with her. Over the course of about 20 minutes Angelina really opened up, below are just a few of my favorite moments from the interview.
Angelina has done all sorts of different types of movies. So why did she choose a Disney film like Maleficent?
When I read this script and I was so moved by it. I was moved by it as a mother, but I was also moved by it because I thought of myself as a little girl and all the kids I know, and that feeling of being different and outside and as a women feeling abused. And this idea if you have ever been abused as a women and you put this wall up, you become darker. Your not able to be this soft person that you were born to be. And then what could possibly ever bring you back. The thing that brought her back is very much the thing that brought me back. I was very, very connected to it.
Most of us are fully aware of the original story of Sleeping Beauty but not much about the villain behind the story. Curious minds wondered how much of the Maleficent story did Angelina know before she read the script?
I didn’t really know anything. When I was a little girl I was really fascinated by her and I didn’t really identify with the princesses, at the time. Princesses have gotten a little more modern. It was like seeing Marlene Dietrich for the first time. It was like seeing this elegant, powerful woman who seemed to be having a great time. And her voice. So I was fascinated by her. There was a rumor that the movie was going to be made. I got a call from my brother. He was like “Ang you got to make a call to Disney, you got to get in on this”. So I was very happy when I got the call. Just the idea of a Disney movie and having children and just being a big kid myself. It was fun but I really didn’t know. I joked with “Linda” How could you possibly make a story where people will have any connection to or empathy for with somebody her curses a baby, It’s going to be impossible. And I think she did and extraordinary job.
The Maleficent costume is incredible and one could only wonder how long it took Angelina to get in it everyday and how comfortable it was to wear.
I think it was about 2 and a half hours at the end of the day. Which wasn’t that bad. We had a great team and they worked together and they did it all at once. They were so great. They worked so hard to make it not heavy. My hair was in these really funny little buns and used as the thing that held the horns on. They made it really lightweight and they also had detachable horns. Partially for weight and also because I kept knocking myself out. I was about 7 1/2 foot high and I had contacts in so the first couple of days so I was a complete mess. They made them (the horns) so I could snap them off.
What did Angelina think we she first saw her self in full costume as Malefient?
I was REALLY happy. We went through a few stages, in trying to find her. We went through a few that weren’t so great. There was a period were she has wings so we thought she was part bird/fairy. Maybe she has feather hair. We went in many, many different directions and then at the end of the day we kind of said it has to be that because it is a real real film and she has real scenes and emotional scenes it can’t be so much makeup that you are stareing at some pasted makeup. The soul has to come through. It has to be enough that it’s other worldly but still be able to have very serious scenes.
I loved hearing how Angelina enlisted the kids to help her found her voice and character for Maleficent. Here is what she said when asked how she found the perfect voice for the character.
My kids helped me find it. I was telling them stories and giving them baths and I was doing this thing where a few nights in a row I would tell them stories in the bath and I was trying on voices and a few of them would say “Please stop”. And sometimes they would listen and be more engaged and I kept trying and trying and trying and then I did the Maleficent voice and they couldn’t stop laughing. And so I kept doing it more and more and more, So they still make me do it, I had to do it the other night. For the look and everything I would kind of run it by them and if it made them happy or made them smile and they were interested in it, then it was right.
I know for many women, including myself, Angelina’s humanitarian work is an inspiration and many people would love to learn how they could do their part. So how can us “regular” moms help out.
First the most important thing we can do is as a mom, is raise our children with love and compassion and to become great people and thoughtful of others and that is the MOST important thing. And if everybody would do just that we would have a very different world. And then encourage our children’s education and help them to be conscious of the world around them. So I think mother’s have the most powerful role. There have been examples of Taliban fighters who have stopped because there mothers stopped, because the mother’s became educated. They couldn’t stop the men but they educated the mother’s and the mother’s got them back home. The mother is a very powerful thing.
Being online, there is so much to connect to. There is so much to be done and it is easier to see now with the situation with the Nigerian girls. That’s not government, that’s the masses speaking up and pushing for government change. It sometimes doesn’t seem like every voice counts but it does.
There is a conference that I would love for you to be aware of June 10th- June 13th. PSBI, it’s the largest summit ever to end sexual violence in conflict It’s in England and open to the public. We have realized that it’s not just government, everyone has to come together so NATO will be there, peace keepers will be there, governments will be there and it’s open to the public. And NGO’s, victims and doctors will be there. So everyone together will spend four days. I think that is what these things takes. It takes all of us very tightly working together.
The photo above is of Angelina Jolie and her adorable daughter Vivienne who plays a young Aurora in the film. When asked what it was like working with her daughter in the film, here is what Angelina had to say.
It was a tough choice to do it. Everyone knows the reason why, because I was really scaring other kids, but the movie is not frightening for children. I kept thinking that I was a Disney character and I’d want to talk to them and they would get mad and leave. And then realized what 4 or 5 little girl can I be really mean too and say bad things too like “ I don’t like Children” and have her be fine and we realized it was probably Viv. It took us awhile to make sure that was an Ok thing but at the end of the day I just wanted to play with her. It was really fun. The first day she had to catch the butterfly and like any 4 year old she just decided that she didn’t want too, so there are some really funny outtakes of Brad and I. I have actually got the blue stick with the ball that is suppose to be the butterfly and I am suppose to be running in front of her and Brad is off the edge of the cliff kinda of trying to dance and make her jump into his arms and she made us work for that.
Angelina has a lot of different roles in life as a mom, humanitarian, entertainer, so how does she do it all. I love her answer!
I am in a very lucky position I have a very supportive partner and he and I are able to take turns working. And when you make a film it doesn’t take all year round. When I direct it does but I get to decide when I get to leave in the morning and when I come home at night and I can edit in my bedroom and be there. So I have a very rare luxury with my job to have my kids with me on set everyday and homeschool. Other mother’s have it much harder than I do and don’t have the means to have the assistance as I do. I don’t feel like I do anything exceptional. My mom was a single mom and she had a lot of difficulty and she gave up her dreams to make sure she could take me to my auctions and support me and nobody acknowledged her for what she did. That was hard. I can’t complain.
So we all know that as a parent are kids are some of our harshest critics and Angelina is certainly no different in that department. Here is a funny story about what when her kids saw her in the full Malefient costume for the first time.
I should have let them come in earlier and have them watch me get into my makeup. But I thought it would be really fun to surprise them and they came on and some of them where fine, they just got a little quite. But Pax ran away from me and I made the mistake thinking he was playing a game and I chased after him. And then realized he was upset and so then he had to come in the makeup trailer and watch me take everything off. It was interesting because we actually wondered about Maleficent and talked to Disney about why is she considered the most evil. I man obviously what she does, but what is it about children that they see her and I think that is what happened with my children. I think they see her and because it’s a woman, an older woman it’s mom. The figure that should be nurturing was now the figure that was slightly terrifying. I think that is why children are so frightened by her and why I think they will also embrace her.
Angelina Jolie was such a pleasure to talk with! I loved how even though she is this amazing actress who is wealthy, talented and has Brad Pitt as a partner we still connected on a human level. She was really amazing in person and in the movie. Thank you so much Angelina ( I heard it through the Grapevine that she may be reading this!!!) Maleficent which is rated PG opens in theaters everywhere May 30th. I have seen it and LOVED it but can’t quite spill any of the details just yet so check back next week for my full movie review. In the meantime be sure to follow along on the following social media channels for all things Maleficent.
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*Disney flew me to LA, paid for my food and hotel so that I could meet Angelina Jolie!! All opinions expressed are my own.