Angelina Jolie Refutes Controversial Report About Children’s Auditions For New Film
Published on July 31, 2017.Vanity Fair recently published a cover story on Angelina Jolie that gained a lot traction and revealed insights into her divorce and current role in First They Killed My Father.
The article detailed a controversial “game” that was allegedly used during the casting process that has been criticized for enacting abuse towards children. “In order to find their lead, to play young Loung Ung, the casting directors set up a game, rather disturbing in its realism: they put money on the table and asked the child to think of something she needed the money for, and then to snatch it away,” Vanity Fair claimed. “The director would pretend to catch the child, and the child would have to come up with a lie.”
Jolie was outraged by this claim and refuted it in a statement to The Huffington Post. “I am upset that a pretend exercise in an improvisation, from an actual scene in the film, has been written about as if it was a real scenario,” said Jolie. “The suggestion that real money was taken from a child during an audition is false and upsetting. I would be outraged myself if this had happened.” Jolie added, “Every measure was taken to ensure the safety, comfort and well-being of the children on the film starting from the auditions through production to the present.”
An inside source from the set of the film also revealed that the movie’s casting process made children aware that they were simply improvising a scene from the film and that no money was involved.
