irector Simon West (The General's Daughter) sets out to prove that it is possible to make a successful film adaptation of a popular video game with his latest film, Tomb Raider. Based on the Eidos video-game series of the same name, the film is an action-packed adventure ride in the style of such blockbusters as the Indiana Jones series and The Mummy.
This time, however, the adventurer is a sexy woman who's just as quick with her wits as she is with her signature sidearms. Star Angelina Jolie takes on one of her most physically challenging roles yet as sexy video-game legend Lara Croft. With the potential success of the film, the Oscar-winning actress stands to become one of the rarest creatures in Hollywood--a genuine female action-film star.
West and Jolie took some time recently to speak with Science Fiction Weekly about Tomb Raider, which opened June 15.
What makes a video game into a successful movie?
West: I don't know. It's never been done.
But why is this one different from adaptations that have been tried in the past?
West: I hope it's because of taking it seriously and not sort of trying to cash in and go, like, "Video games are dumb." And, I mean, they may be. I mean, I certainly don't play them. But it's not reason why the film has to be. And I think also a difference with this game, to give it some credit, is that it's a female lead who has to use her brain to puzzle things out.
Jolie: We all went into it knowing what could be the obvious jokes about it. How it could not work. How it would be really campy. So I'm just happy all the way through the process, when something has been a solid thing, when her house has been great and we built such an amazing set, or when I see the artwork and it's tasteful and I think it's strong and good as opposed to what it could be.
What was the best experience during the filming?
Jolie: I miss Cambodia. ... It's just such a freeing thing to set these great challenges for yourself to travel to learn more about the world to go out there and get crazy and get free and get strong, and it's wonderful that everyday was about learning something new and trying to overcome some obstacle, and it's just a great feeling.
West: We were so lucky. And it took quite a few months to gently work our way in [to Cambodia]. I mean, they wanted Western film crews to come in there. But obviously they didn't want, you know, someone that's going to destroy the place. We were very careful and respectful of that. ...
My take on the place, going somewhere like that, was to get the mysticism and the spirituality and the beauty of it out ... It was actually a fantastic experience. But Iceland, on the other hand, was one of the hardest.
What was so difficult about filming in Iceland?
Jolie: I don't like cold weather very much. We all thought that being inside the glacier water would definitely look like it was [a special effect] because it was so blue. But that was Iceland and it was freezing. Physically, so much of it that was really difficult was also really rewarding.
West: We were up on the biggest glacier in Europe or the world or something. It's like two kilometers thick. It's the size of half of Britain or something. ... You're in amongst these icebergs, which, every now and again one--they're the size of buildings--would roll and the noise was unbelievable. ...
One day we were going up over the crevasse and there was 30 of us in a snow cat. ... We're hanging onto the side and the fog was coming in and we were like thousands of feet in the air and we're looking out the window and there are these huge crevasses ... and everyone's trying to be really brave and it's silence in there and at the end of it I said, "You know what? We're turning around. It's just a film. It's not worth dying for." And everyone goes, "Thank God he said that."
Simon West, what made you decide to cast Angelina Jolie in the role of Lara Croft?
West: I cast her because obviously no one can dispute she's a great actress. And I didn't realize how good until working with her, because she's one of those natural genius actresses that are incredibly young, so she couldn't have learned all this stuff over 20 years of experience, so she's obviously touched by the genius of this. So I knew that even if I had one dramatic scene in the film, that she was going to elevate it and pull it off, and so my plan is always to have the best actor, so that whenever they're called upon to act as opposed to shoot guns or jump over things, it's believable and they're real. Because often in action films I think that's where it dips, when they have to do something real.
How did you convince Angelina to take on the role?
West: It didn't take much convincing. It took about 20 minutes. Because I think she really wanted to play it anyway, and all she needed was reassurance that it wasn't going to be a total cartoon and a very girly, girly kind of thing. And we soon came to realize that we had exactly the same idea of what it should be.
What about the sexuality of the character? Is she ever exploited?
West: She's incredibly sexy, obviously, but she never uses it as a weapon. ... She doesn't like, you know, sidle up to somebody and chat them up and things like that. I mean you never use the sexuality as a tool. And so it's just ... we both sort of realized that we wanted to make kind of a, quite a good role model in some ways. And some would say that she's a male fantasy of what a woman should be. But women do seem to connect with her because she's powerful.
Jolie: She has the things that make her Lara Croft. And we also knew that there were lots of questions about what she was going to wear and whether she was going to have her shower scene. ... The entire movie was made for the people that like her. ... So we are aware of all the things that people are looking for, or whether there was a shower scene. We didn't ignore that and put quite a bit of it in but didn't really show her body. Didn't really do anything overly sexual.
Are you expecting a sequel?
Jolie: We've talked about it. Yeah.
Do you play the game?
Jolie: I'm not good at the game. But they told me the secrets so I can get through it because I have no patience. I got lucky, the Eidos people came in and helped me out. I like it. I think it's a good game. It's complicated so it drives me crazy.
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Also in this issue: Samuel R. Delany
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