Happy Birthday Suit: Angelina Jolie

Her award-winning Gia as a Geisha?

Raw, unhinged, Angelina Jolie in her youth kind of did whatever she wanted.  You could say her "wild child" image was calculated.  Or maybe playing drug addicts and lesbians were something she needed to get out of her system, as well as intimating an incestuous relationship with her brother; writing husband #1's name in his blood on her wedding-day outfit comprised of a white T-shirt and black rubber pants; and wearing the blood of husband #2 around her neck on Oprah.  Did she really think or care it would have led her to where she is now, humanitarian mother of six?  Who knows how many more children she will introduce to her family with fiancee Brad Pitt, but it wouldn't be surprising if, after all is said and done (is that possible?), she will have plucked a child from and/or conceived one on every continent on earth.  Both on and offscreen, she has consistently possessed a mysterious quality that keeps many guessing.  Now, instead of publicly toying with her beau's blood, she takes her leg out on the town.  Her kicks have mellowed, at least wherever there are cameras.  From bawdy to regal, this body has made a career transformation we've never witnessed before in quite the Jolie manner.

Jolie providing caged lesbian heat as Gia 

The beautiful, sexy daughter of Oscar-winner Jon Voight quickly established her talent and rather swiftly erased whatever doubts that take root from nepotastic origins.  After a variety of straight-to-DVD schlock and slogging through teenager roles in Hackers and Foxfire, her tour-de-force turn as supermodel heroin addict Gia Carangi separated her from the rest of her generation as one to watch and transitioned her to more challenging work and industry respect.  Gia her got nominated for an Emmy (she lost to Ellen Barkin; her supporting nomination for George Wallace that same ceremony resulted in a loss to Mare Winningham) and won the Golden Globe (her second of three consecutive wins) and SAG.  A year later, Winona Ryder, with her own star beginning to fade before the age of 30, in an ironic twist of events, would produce her to a supporting Oscar for Girl, Interrupted.  Within that three-year window, she would enjoy three box-office hits: The Bone Collector, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Yeah, how many other actresses
can make this work?  

But, the early 2000s (even still today, but less so), audiences weren't as willing to pay to see a woman in a crappy movie they'd be more likely to watch a man in.  Despite her confidence and ability to simultaneously explore her masculinity without sacrificing an ounce of her femininity, the turkeys started rolling in, one right after another.  It was like Jolie and her success was a fluke.  For FIVE full calendar years, she put out a string of live-action features which currently do not rise above a 30% RT, including the hit movies that kicked off that dubious chapter of her resume.  The much-maligned Beyond Borders didn't do anything for her commercial profile, but it certainly laid the seeds as an international crusader for the downtrodden.  People wouldn't even pay to watch her and Antonio Banderas have sex in erotic thriller [read: low-rent soft-porn] Original Sin.  She would continue the tradition as a morbid Clarice Sterling knockoff with cut-rate-Tom-Cruise-impersonator Ethan Hawke in the marginally more successful Taking Lives.  She quickly learned she would never be the queen of comedy when Life or Something Like It belly-flopped into the box-office pool.  She has smartly steered away from the genre and platinum blonde wigs ever since [though that strawberry blonde ponytail in Salt was pretty hideous].  Jolie's allure is opposite accessibility, which is a key ingredient for viewers to fall in love with the heroine, while she makes them laugh.  They weren't as eager to see her return as Croft in The Cradle of Life either.  Even working with Oliver Stone did little for her as Colin Farrell's mother in Alexander.  But, around that time, she did at least start to take supporting roles in more reputable projects.  She got the best line in the much-admired flop Sky Captain and the World Tomorrow ("Alert the amphibious squadron").  Robert DeNiro directed her and Matt Damon in the Eric Roth-scripted The Good Shepherd.  Things were turning around both professionally and personally.

Whatever Jolie wants ...

... Jolie gets ...

... And, little Pitt ... Angie Jolie ... wants you ...

After Chloe Sevigny turned down the role of Jane Smith and Nicole Kidman dropped out (Catherine Zeta-Jones was also under consideration), Jolie started filming the $110M Mr. and Mrs. Smith in early 2004.  The script was above average, but the sparks between her and her costar Brad Pitt would fly both in front of the camera as well as behind the scenes.  The tabloids could not get enough about her much rumored relationship with then married Pitt.  She insists she did not romantically involve herself with Pitt until after he separated because her father had cheated on her mother.  The movie went on to become an international hit and they have been procreating and adopting ever since.  As of yet, they have no plans to reunite onscreen.

Straight drama is still quite sketchy from a commercial angle for her.  The next two years, Jolie would enjoy some of the best reviews of her career working with Clint Eastwood, which garnered her an Oscar nod for Changeling, as well as narrowly missing out on AMPAS recognition for her powerful portrayal of Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart.  The summer release accumulated a pretty solid reception.  However, unfortunately, audiences just aren't willing enough to take a journey through the war zone, unless the heroism is more sweeping, the morality very clear, and/or there are special effects.  It also helps if the leads are all men.  She has also enjoyed some success with voice-over (Kung Fu Panda franchise) and motion-capture (Beowulf) work.

Driving, shooting, and playing psychiatrist to her passenger,
Jolie is a woman, W-O-M-A-N

It wouldn't be until Wanted that she reaffirmed an assumption that wasn't always clear to me: that she could open a film on her own.  Because, if you think about, she has always had a lot of help from name recognition outside of herself, whether it be her more notable costars (Denzel Washington, Nicolas Cage, Pitt) or role (Lara Croft).  Amazingly enough, the movie isn't even her story and one could even argue she has a supporting role; yet, without her, Wanted clearly wouldn't have been much desired and was sold mostly on her name alone.  While the subsequent Salt wasn't a runaway hit, in a role that was originally supposed to be for Tom Cruise, she performed quite well as far as profits were concerned.  It's really in the action genre audiences will pay money to see her.  She hasn't dipped back in her milieu since, but you know after she tanks one or more times in the future, Hollywood will cover her in another dash of Salt or figure out a way to weave her into Wanted 2 so she'll hold onto her star status.

I could be wrong, but I think
Brangelina kind of likes
Sean Young's party-crashing crazy

For her next production, she's jumping on the fairy tale bandwagon with Malificent with many of Tim Burton's team from Alice in Wonderland.  Prospects are very up-the-air right now.  Commercially, this may work for her.  Artistically, we may have another eyesore on our hands.   Right now, she looks good with no recent bombs under her belt.  She even weathered The Tourist and the accompanying Ricky Gervais Golden Globe skewering (wasn't he off this year?) by turning it into an international hit with Johnny Depp.  She has had a few voice-over hits, three to be exact, including the last one, Kung Fo Panda 2, the top grossing feature length of all time directed by a woman.  Today, Saint Angie turns 37.

[Image via W Magazine]

Check Out Other Happy Birthday Suit(lesses):

Jennifer Aniston     Ellen Barkin     Drew Barrymore     Annette Bening     Jessica Biel     Juliette Binoche     Cate Blanchett     Helena Bonham Carter     Cher     Glenn Close     Claires Danes     Geena Davis     Kirsten Dunst     Jennifer Garner     Jennifer Grey     Kate Hudson     Holly Hunter     Angelina Jolie     Ashley Judd     Keira Knightley     Jessica Lange     Andie MacDowell     Eva Mendes     Rosie O'Donnell     Lena Olin     Michelle Pfeiffer     Natalie Portman     Emma Thompson     Uma Thurman     Rachel Weisz     Debra Winger     Renée Zellweger

Jennifer Aniston #1     Nicole Kidman #1     Rachel McAdams     Julia Roberts     Winona Ryder