Angelina Jolie is facing major criticism for how her new film casted its child actors
Angelina Jolie is in hot water.
An interview with Vanity Fair was published this week, which included Jolie discussing her Netflix film First They Killed My Father, based on the life of her long-time friend Loung Ung. In the piece, Jolie discusses working in Cambodia with her son and divorce from Brad Pitt—but there's one paragraph about the film that has heads turning and questioning the actress and goodwill ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.
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According to one paragraph in the article from VF, the casting director of Jolie's film employed emotionally manipulative games to find their lead child actors. This was accomplished by bribing the children, who are from "orphanages, circuses, and slum schools" with money and later forcing them to return it.
The article reads as follows:
The casting process revealed is a far cry from the humanitarian image Jolie has embodied over the years, particularly with her work with refugees as a goodwill ambassador. It's this stark difference between the exploitative anecdote and Jolie we have come to know today, and that has people reacting on Twitter in defense of the children who experienced the "game."
this is deliberate emotional abuse inflicted upon kids and not a word should be spoken in its defense. https://t.co/l73qJJuvN4
— dan (@_suprdan) July 27, 2017
Angelina Jolie is crazy. What a cruel psychological game to play with impoverished children. pic.twitter.com/iAEUhINBui
— Denizcan Targaryen (@MrFilmkritik) July 26, 2017
It's actually sickening how Angelina Jolie played a psychological game with impoverished children/orphans to cast a part in a film.
— Lula x (@lule_abdul) July 28, 2017
What Angelina Jolie did to those kids in Cambodia is disgusting. But, it won't make a splash in the media cos she's one of the untouchables.
— SheEO (@_Choccie) July 28, 2017
angelina jolie really played a psychological game w/ impoverished kids instead of, you know, just having them audition like a normal person
— ellie (@spikejonzes) July 26, 2017
Jolie has yet to publicly acknowledge the backlash.