Actor Jolie Talks on Crafting Croft

Melodious, amiable and undeniably sexy, Angelina Jolie’s gliding voice is as complex as the woman herself. With the faintest hint of a British accent occasionally peeking out in her words, it’s easy to regard Jolie as the real-life personification of Lara Croft, the British video game vixen from Tomb Raider.

Jolie, speaking in a telephone interview from England, begs to differ. “Lara Croft is so confident . . . I’m more casual, not like her in that way. [The producers] and I had a long meeting about the shorts,” Jolie chuckles as she reflects on her character’s revealing wardrobe.

If the upcoming film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life enjoys as much success as the first installment of the franchise—which grossed nearly $300 million worldwide in summer 2001—Jolie looks to preserve her star appeal, shorts and all.

The largely physical demands of Jolie’s Tomb Raider contrast with the demands of her dramatic roles in such films as Girl, Interrupted—a portrayal that earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The personal value of playing roles in both action films and dramas are not lost on Jolie. “If I just did movies like Girl, Interrupted I’d become closed in mind and heart. I learned that from Tomb Raider. We grow up and forget to be playful, forget our sense of adventure. It’s something we shouldn’t forget,” she says.

Jolie’s foray into motherhood is a mark of her love for adventure. With the adoption of a Cambodian baby boy named Maddox, Jolie has reorganized her priorities and is now apt to approach film projects from a parent’s point of view. Prior to joining the Tomb Raider cast, she says she seriously questioned the issue of violence in video games, deciding in the end that Lara Croft “is actually a good guy.”

She doesn’t, however, allow motherhood to stop her from taking on roles that interest her, and she says she hopes to delve into a darker side of herself in the future.

“I really want to play a bad person,” she says, “[to] take on a character that will have a darker, seedier aspect to it. I haven’t explored a side of me that’s more sexual, aggressive, without apologizing for it.”

It might be a while before that seedier side of Angelina Jolie appears. She’s already working on two projects. Beyond Borders, a love story with Clive Owen, will come out later this year. She is also lending her voice to a star-filled animated film called Shark Slayer, slated to premiere in November 2004.

Always unpredictable, humility seems to be something that does remain constant in Jolie.

“I’m just glad to be working,” she says. At one point, she mulls over the memory of her first Golden Globe win—an honor that she says she was not expecting.

“I was living by myself in New York, feeling lonely, and suddenly, in a moment I was accepted. Strange, but memorable,” she says.