Angelina Jolie was at the Santa Barbara Film Festival last night to receive the Maltin Modern Master Award and sat with Leonard Maltin for a Q&A about her career before accepting the honour. On Friday she’s nominated for Best Actress at the Critics’ Choice Awards so we’ll likely see her again on that red carpet and I’m curious to see what her look, and what all of their looks, will be. Critics’ Choice has scaled back the media spectacle. E! isn’t going live from that event, it’s on a Friday night, it will be followed on Saturday by the PGA and the DGA, and it’s Super Bowl weekend. If the stars are ranking their looks, Critics’ Choice is probably not going to bring out the A dresses.
Angelina went with a champagne slip dress last night, open back, and pockets. There was a jacket to match. It’s well within her style wheelhouse and not a look that encourages all that much conversation.
The actual conversation, then, becomes the focus. You can watch the full interview here and here. She’s guarded but she’s funny, funnier than people give her credit for. And she’s candid about her early life, how “dark” she was, and how “embarrassed” of not appreciating her love she became later when she started travelling the world and understanding the suffering of others and her own privilege. She’s also asked about when she, and Brad Pitt, sold photos of their children to PEOPLE Magazine and donated the proceeds and the thinking behind that. Her answer to that is pretty matter-of-fact; there was a safety issue because their babies were such a high point of interest for the paparazzi, and so they told control.
Then there’s the Oscar, winning an Oscar for her work in Girl, Interrupted and what that experience was like. Which is when her mother comes up. It’s a beautiful answer – and it’s kinda related to her father, Jon Voight’s Oscar, because when he won his he’d left her mother and was with another woman, and on that night, Angie was watching the ceremony at home with her mom … obviously a tough memory. So on her night, with her trophy, she was able to kinda change, or at least add to her mother’s experience with that award. Leonard is so moved by it he says that it’s the “best story I’ve ever heard about winning an Oscar”. You can watch that starting at the 2:45 mark below.
Angelina’s discussion with Leonard was followed by the award presentation and Ava DuVernay who presented it to her. It’s obvious that there’s a lot of love and respect here – and Ava’s presence, her words for Angelina, given that Ava is not the kind of celebrity who just shows up for anyone anywhere, brings up, once again, that even though there’s an idea that follows Angelina around that she doesn’t have girlfriends or strong relationships in Hollywood, that might not necessarily be true. It’s just that she and her friends don’t perform their friendship for public consumption.
Angelina’s speech includes another mention of her mother – an emotional one. She gets choked up when remembering the letters her mother would write to her characters; and then she concludes with a subtle message that probably all of us who’ve been paying attention will understand.
“I hope we can all agree that we can't seek to improve systems at the cost of our humanity."
Watch her full speech, plus Ava’s introduction, below:
