Angelina Jolie @ Cannes Film Festival 2007

Seriously not much makeup, they were panning in tight on her during the conference, you could see every pore, and I’m telling you – she is crazy gorgessity. Didn’t like the hair but the bone structure is madness…especially those lips. And believe me, it didn’t go unnoticed. During the press conference, even when someone else was answering a question, the camera dudes wouldn’t come off of her – like they needed a nudge to remember what they were doing.

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I love this part. The paps forgot there were other people there…….Angie does have that affect on people. LOL

I am totally speechless…she’s just too pretty for words……GOOD JOB! :D

Lainey’s latest and best part. :) I’ll just swoon right now. Sigh.
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The Chemistry

The press conference panel was long. Like almost 9 people, maybe more. Mariane Pearl, Michael Winterbottom, Angelina Jolie, and Dan Futterman sat in the centre. Brad was way off at the left end if you were facing them directly.

Naturally, once the Q&A got going, once people did the perfunctory and respected Mariane with questions about her story, the personal questions started coming. On a few occasions, when a question was particularly intimate, Angelina would look over at Brad and giggle. For the most part, he took over in those situations, stepping in before she could open her mouth and start spilling as she’s want to do, and firmly redirecting his answer towards promoting the movie. She seemed to defer to him too, pausing so he could jump in before sitting back and listening intently.

Still…there were a few cute moments. Like when she talked about how they spent Sunday playing with the children, he was kinda smiling wistfully then seemed to catch himself and look down so as not to give anything away. And at the very end of the press conference, a journalist asked a question that was directed at both of them. She spoke first but when it was Brad’s turn, he was caught in a daze, and apologised by saying that he was “lost in the waft of her words – what’s her name over there”… clearly either daydreaming or just totally mesmerised by his lady. She giggled again.

And then it was time to go. Security sealed off the corridor so that they could walk out in peace. But they had to cross an archway in plain view of photographers who were complaining about having to shoot through the glass. At this point, I had returned to the press lounge, getting ready to plug in my lap top. The rest of the cast and Mariane crossed over first followed by Angelina. She walked a few steps before being held back. So she waited under an awning until Brad appeared, and then they walked arm in arm, his hand creeping towards her ass across the bridge down the steps on the other side. As they descended the stairs, they dropped their hands and linked fingers. He leaned down for a split second and sort of buried his head in her hair. I watched her squeeze his hand back and look back up at him with a lovey dovey face…and then the pappies started cursing because none of them could get a clear shot.

As for further plans in Cannes – word is they’re keeping it super low key. No chance of catching them tonight at Nikki Beach. But they’re here for a few days…will try my best.

PS. They all call her Angie. None of the cast members, when referring to her, ever call her Angelina. Even Mariane Pearl exclusively called her Angie. As of course does Brad. Funny thing is – she doesn’t look like an Angie to me…you?

Wonderful ,beautiful

Not sure if someone has reproduced this. Next part from Lainey. But go to her site to and give her the clicks. She deserves it for clearing up the donation business months ago and for her write up tonite.

The Chemistry

The press conference panel was long. Like almost 9 people, maybe more. Mariane Pearl, Michael Winterbottom, Angelina Jolie, and Dan Futterman sat in the centre. Brad was way off at the left end if you were facing them directly.

Naturally, once the Q&A got going, once people did the perfunctory and respected Mariane with questions about her story, the personal questions started coming. On a few occasions, when a question was particularly intimate, Angelina would look over at Brad and giggle. For the most part, he took over in those situations, stepping in before she could open her mouth and start spilling as she’s want to do, and firmly redirecting his answer towards promoting the movie. She seemed to defer to him too, pausing so he could jump in before sitting back and listening intently.

Still…there were a few cute moments. Like when she talked about how they spent Sunday playing with the children, he was kinda smiling wistfully then seemed to catch himself and look down so as not to give anything away. And at the very end of the press conference, a journalist asked a question that was directed at both of them. She spoke first but when it was Brad’s turn, he was caught in a daze, and apologised by saying that he was “lost in the waft of her words – what’s her name over there”… clearly either daydreaming or just totally mesmerised by his lady. She giggled again.

And then it was time to go. Security sealed off the corridor so that they could walk out in peace. But they had to cross an archway in plain view of photographers who were complaining about having to shoot through the glass. At this point, I had returned to the press lounge, getting ready to plug in my lap top. The rest of the cast and Mariane crossed over first followed by Angelina. She walked a few steps before being held back. So she waited under an awning until Brad appeared, and then they walked arm in arm, his hand creeping towards her ass across the bridge down the steps on the other side. As they descended the stairs, they dropped their hands and linked fingers. He leaned down for a split second and sort of buried his head in her hair. I watched her squeeze his hand back and look back up at him with a lovey dovey face…and then the pappies started cursing because none of them could get a clear shot. But still…in spite of photo opps and the contrivance, said it before and I’ll say it again, I buy what they’re selling. They sell it better than anyone else.

As for further plans in Cannes – word is they’re keeping it super low key. No chance of catching them tonight at Nikki Beach. But they’re here for a few days…will try my best.

PS. They all call her Angie. None of the cast members, when referring to her, ever call her Angelina. Even Mariane Pearl exclusively called her Angie. As of course does Brad. Funny thing is – she doesn’t look like an Angie to me…you?

Premiere Rview!!!!

“A Mighty Heart”

Given her tabloid noteriety, is it possible for Angelina Jolie to even register a performance anymore? That is, when on screen, can she make you believe that you are not looking at Angelina Jolie? That’s just one of the questions going through my mind before seeing A Mighty Heart, the much-bruited film adaptation of Mariane Pearl’s memoir starring Jolie as Pearl, co-produced by Jolie’s companion Brad Pitt, and directed by Michael Winterbottom. (Pearl was the wife of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in early 2002. Mariane, also a journalist, was five months pregnant with their son at the time.)

The answer to the question is “kind of.” Which is not to say that Jolie does not perform to the fullest of her capabilities, or that she is ineffective. But what makes her convincing here has as much to do with how she is shot as what she does.

The ever astute Winterbottom has cast the film as a procedural and an ensemble piece. Contrary to what many might have inferred from the production stills, official-and-non, that emerged during the making of the film, this is not a picture wherein a lone Mariane Pearl wanders wide-eyed through the streets of Karachi in a heroic search for her missing spouse. Mariane spends most of the time in the rented house of a friend and colleague (Archie Panjabi), surrounded by a partially ad hoc team—a Pakistani police captain, an American diplomat, a couple of Wall Street Journal staffers, etc.—trying to piece together the hows and whys of Pearl’s abduction. (Pearl himself is played very well by Dan Futterman in his likable straight-shooter mode.)

Winterbottom appears to understand that no matter how much she is made up (here she is given a darker complexion and ringletted hair to better resemble the Afro-Cuban/Dutch Pearl; she looks pretty much just like herself regardless), there is no way an audience is going to look at her onscreen and NOT see Angelina Jolie. He employs a couple of strategies to tackle this. In the initial sequences of the film, he rarely puts her in the frame all by herself; she’s always in part of some bustle, even if she’s in the foreground. He also cuts very quickly; he doesn’t give her any “moments.” Thus, he makes her just a part of what he’s weaving, much of which involves getting the viewer as deep as film possibly can get one into the feel of Karachi. Winterbottom’s particularly good with environments, and he’s also a deft, quick storyteller, and he juggles chronology in a way that gives us a quick, empathy-generating read of Daniel and Mariane’s passionate involvement while moving the kidnap tale at almost full throttle.

Later, at moments when Mariane is most emotionally fraught, Winterbottom makes us not see Jolie by sort of not showing her to the viewer; he will shoot her from behind, or in silhouette. We don’t get a full-on, well lit face-forward shot of Mariane screaming until she’s giving birth to her and Daniel’s son Adam. And by this point of the film, it works.

As does, I should say, the rest of the picture, which is involving and moving in the mode of another war-zone Winterbottom picture, Welcome to Sarajevo. Jolie and Pitt were very smart to get a director who doesn’t do star turns to do Jolie’s star turn. I dare say she’s got at least an Oscar nomination locked.

So far all reviews has been really good, even the one from lainey. I want more!

Love Lainey’s report. where is Ritzgal ? She said she will be there , isn’t it ?

From The Hollywood Reporter!!!!

A Mighty Heart

Bottom Line: Angelina Jolie shines in a suspenseful docudrama about a terrorist kidnapping.By Ray Bennett
May 22, 2007

CANNES — Michael Winterbottom’s expertly fashioned documentary-style drama “A Mighty Heart” relates the intense manhunt launched in Pakistan when jihadists kidnapped Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Angelina Jolie delivers a well-measured and moving performance as the reporter’s wife, Mariane.

With the BBC’s Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston now missing and believed kidnapped for 70 days and journalists in danger in hotspots around the world, a film version of Mariane Pearl’s book about the search for her husband could not be more timely.

Set for release in the U.S. in June and the rest of the world in September, the film’s even-handed approach to incendiary topics should generate substantial interest.

Jolie’s voice-over sets the scene as the movie begins in Karachi, a vast, sprawling city where her husband went missing. He was on assignment to meet a man who could tell him more about Richard Reid, the captured shoe bomber. The events of Sept. 11 were not long past, and the situation was made difficult by the Wall Street Journal going public with the fact that it had turned over a suspicious computer to the CIA. The film traces Pearl’s movements on the night he was kidnapped, with him being warned several times to meet his contact only in public. His trail died when a taxi dropped him off at a restaurant. When he fails to return to the place where he and his wife, who is pregnant with their first child, are staying, she calls in the authorities. Senior people from the newspaper including John Bussey (Denis O’Hare) and Steve LeVine (Gary Wilmes) drop everything to help in the hunt headquartered at the home of the Pearl’s friend, writer Asra (Archie Panjabi). U.S. diplomatic security specialist Randall Bennett (Will Patton) and representatives of assorted American agencies join the team that is led by the head of the Pakistani counter-terrorism unit who is known as Captain (Irrfan Khan).

The news breaks internationally, and various parties claim that Pearl is with the CIA or Mossad, which complicates things. One Pakistani government member dismisses it as a crime by India. Winterbottom shows the painstaking steps taken to link one mobile phone caller to the next and efforts to track down a single Internet provider that is used to send e-mails about the kidnapping. Marcel Zyskind’s cinematography captures the frantic bustle of the over-populated city as agents swarm into tenements to arrest suspects.

The film alarmingly implies that torture works when one suspect reveals names under duress and watching the no-holds-barred approach of the Pakistani authorities on a raid, the American Bennett declares, “I love this town!”

For the most part, however, the film reflects the dispassionate view espoused by Mariane Pearl, who sees that it is misery that breeds terrorism. Jolie plays her with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent influenced by France and Cuba. She has a powerful scene in which she lets out a shriek of grief that will be recognized wherever people suffer from terror and loss.

A MIGHTY HEART
Paramount Pictures
Produced by Plan B Entertainment, Revolution Films
Credits:
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Screenwriter: John Orloff
Producers: Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner, Andrew Eaton
Director of photography: Marcel Zyskind
Production designer: Mark Digby
Music: Harry Escot, Molly Nyman
Costume designer: Charlotte Walter
Editor: Peter Christelis
Cast:
Mariane Pearl: Angelina Jolie
Daniel Pearl: Dan Futterman
Asra Nomani: Archie Panjabi
Captain: Irrfan Khan
Randall Bennett: Will Patton
John Bussey: Denis O’Hare
Dost Aliani: Adnan Siddiqui
Steve Levine: Gary Wilmes
Masud the Fixer: Daud Khan
Omar/Bashir: Alyy Khan
Suleiman: Taj Khan
Running time — 100 minutes
MPAA rating: R

142
WHERE IS BRAD????? Says:

May 21st, 2007 at 11:48 am - flag comment
SERIOUSLY WHERE IS HE, WHAT’S THE EXCUSE FOR HIM NOT BEING WITH HER? DOES HE HAVE TO BABYSIT? OR IS IT THAT SHE DOESN’T WANT TO SHARE THE SPOTLIGHT WITH HIM? i HAT TO SAY THIS BUT I THINK THE HATERS WERE RIGHT ABOUT HER!

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He’s right there, dumbsh*t.

If only the tabloids stop putting Angie on the cover every week, cause some say this is hurting her career as a respected actress. Hopefully she won’t become a joke like La Lohan or Britney Spears.

#145 They are saying she’s got an Oscar nomination locked down. What’s hurting her career? The tabloid editors are the ones hurting their careers by lying to the public.

146 was directed to

142 WHERE IS BRAD????? Says: