When Maleficent finally hits theaters next week, it'll
mark the end of a long journey for Angelina Jolie, who's stuck with the
movie through five years of rotating directors and updated scripts.
It'll also mark the big screen debut of her 5-year-old daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt.
But Jolie wants to make it clear she wasn't trying to get her daughter
into the movie.She says the 5-year-old was recruited for the role
because all the other kids were too scared of the big bad witch.
Via HitFix: "This came about because there were kids who came to set,
and they'd see me, and I'd say hi to them. And they would cry," she
said. "Actually, one child completely froze and then cried. It was like
terror. I felt so bad, but we realized there was no way we were going to
find a 4- or 5-year-old that I could be as strong with that would not
see me as a monster. Suddenly there was Vivi running around like little
Aurora, and everyone kind of thought, 'Oh! The answer's right there.'
But then I had to go home and talk to dad and you know, it's our kid.
The idea is sweet and so cute to us, as mommy and daddy, but the fact
that she's in a film, and now it's the world of film. That took us a
sec."
Filming with Vivienne wasn't super easy because she is, after all,
just five, so she and Brad Pitt tried to make it more like playtime.
"The first day was the day she had to catch the butterfly, and she
just really didn't feel like doing it. I actually was holding the pole
with the ball on the end, kind of dancing and trying to make her laugh.
Daddy was on the edge of the cliff she had to jump off, making faces and
doing all these things."
So are we likely to see more of Vivienne in the movies? Probably not
anytime soon. Jolie says she wants her kids to have a "healthy"
relationship with the movie industry, and that means they'll decide if
they want to pursue it. But even if they do, she wants them to find
something more meaningful in their lives.
"I hope they do many other things with their lives and are involved
with many other things because I don't think it's a healthy focus as a
center of your life."
