The Press Box - 'Jam Session' — Angelina Jolie Goes 'Solo' (Ep. 334)

Episode Date: July 26, 2017

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins discuss Angelina Jolie's Vanity Fair cover story (https://goo.gl/vdij5A) (5:00), the PR rollout versus Brad Pitt (19:40), and Jolie's fame in 2017 (34:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's jam session is brought to you by my favorite Game of Thrones recap show, Talk the Thrones. Make sure to watch The Ringer's new live reaction show Talk the Thrones. Each week, our friends Andy Greenwald, the mother of dragons, Mallory Rubin, Chris Ryan, and our very own maister, Jason Concepcion, are coming to you live after the East Coast airings of Game of Thrones season seven. Talk the Thrones will stream exclusively on Twitter and Periscope right after each episode ends, like right afterwards, they'll be reacting at the same time as you, contextualizing the events and explaining everything that just unfolded. Again, the show is called Talk the Thrones,

and you can stream it live after the East Coast airings of Game of Thrones Season 7 on our Twitter and Periscope at Ringer. Welcome to Jam Session, a fortuitously timed one. I'm Juliet Lippman. I'm Amanda Dobbins. Moments ago, an Angelina Jolie Vanity Fair cover story dropped, like an hour ago, literally. I think so. Yes. Maybe this point is like 75 minutes.

And we were already scheduled to record this podcast at this time. Thank you, Vanity Fair. So it really was like the gods coming together to bless this Jamestession podcast. As an internet editor, what do you think about a mid-afternoon online pub? Was that the actual timing or was that when we on the West Coast became aware of it? Okay, look, 1244 p.m. is what the Vanity Fair piece say. Is that East Coast or West Coast? Is Vanity Fair updating for...

It's not 1244. here in California. Oh, great point. That's a great, great point. Yeah. It's 1235 in case you guys are wondering. I guess that's a lunchtime. A lunchtime drop. I don't know. It's not what I would go for, but okay, good for them. I guess you are. What would your strategy be, or should we not give that away? It's fine. It's not so revolutionary. It would be like Monday at 8 or like Wednesday at 9. How do you feel about the Sunday like 10 p.m. published? I like it. I do too. I think it's good. I think that betrays a little bit that I worked at New York Magazine, which does that often

a lot. Yeah, and also I worked at the Hoveynoon Post for a while in the era of when there was still like a print schedule and all of the newspapers, like big scoops, scoops a clock, scoops a clock, would happen at like 8, 9 p.m. before the next day's newspaper, which I like. Yeah. You know, then the

morning shows. The table is set. Yeah. Everyone's ready to blog in the morning. Everyone's ready to react. In my dream, I make dinner. I make my lunch the night before for work. Okay. So not in reality, just in the dream? In my dream. I'm actually pretty useless

after 9 p.m. Very tired. I just can't get a lot done. Including making lunch. Anyway, back to Angelian Jolie. So we're just doing Angie. It's just Angie. No segments. Just Angie. There's just a lot to dig into here. We have segments about Angie. But yeah, this is an Angie podcast. We are ready. It's sort of a jam session holiday. It sort of is. It's pretty big.

Where do you want to begin? So I would like to start with how this profile came about. Okay. And this is probably the closest that I will ever come to my like Carrie Matheson Homeland Board. Love it. So this profile, as you noted by Evgenia Peretz was published at 1244 today. It is the September cover story of Vanity Fair. It's currently July 26.

Yes, which is I believe early even for, I don't think other September issues are out. I don't think so either. We definitely would know about the Vogue September issue if it were out. That's true because Gigi and Zane are August. Yes. Yeah. And their controversy is still subsiding. Yeah.

Well, that was a whole other thing. We'll do that another time. Yeah. So I think that normally September issues come out, I guess, end of July, first week of August. But I do think it's usually August. Yeah. So this is unusual, which we'll come back to. This is like the Zappos model.

Since July 1st, Zappos has been advertising for back to school. Yeah. Why don't we have to rush into September? You know, it's a great question. I think I would be curious when this issue is on stands. I suspect that it might not be on stands for a couple months. And so in that case, Vanity Fair would have made a conscious decision to publish it now, either because, one, there's another story coming.

Two, there's a promotional aspect that they are trying to meet or that Angelina Jolie or Netflix are trying to meet. Because that's why she's doing this. She's promoting her Netflix film. Well, that's what I'd like to discuss, Juliet. Okay, great. That is the stated peg for the profile, and that's what's in the display. And in the profile, it is announced that the film is coming out in September.

Right. This is 100%. Here's what I would like to state is that this, I think that this was actually the Brad pitchy Cuccover story came out, and she called the phone, and I think this was done within days. And here's the evidence that I would like to suggest. Okay. Now, I want to keep in mind, cover stories... So I just want to clarify.

You don't think that she probably bumped someone off of the September cover then. I do think so. To make sure she got her piece back in response to the GQ story. Yes. Okay. Now... That's a big deal. Now, one thing I'd like to say...

I'd love to know who she bumped. If true. I would too. So it's possible that this cover story was booked as early as January. Sure. I'm convinced I would like... bet my whole life over the fact that it was booked in response to the Brad Pitt profile, that she knew about it, knew when it was coming out, and timed it accordingly.

What was like a moment in the piece that made you think that? Okay. Thank you so much for asking. You're welcome. Here to help. So the lead of the piece is in her home, her new home in Los Angeles, which we have talked about a great length. Yes.

Very close to you. Yeah. I have literally given like visiting friends from L.A. tours of where Angelina Jolie lives. The old Cecilby-Demille estate. Yes. And it's in a part of Los Angeles called Laughlin Park, which is a gated resident, gated area in Los Felis. Did I say it right?

I was at Laughlin. Oh, I know. Who cares? I thought you meant, did you say Los Felos right? And I was like, yeah, if you asked people from California. Yeah, right. Please don't add us. But so it's a gated community that's actually just very close to traffic and where normal people live,

which I've been, like, very confused about. So I drive everyone, like I go up Franklin. and then I come back on Los Feliz Boulevard so people can understand like how amongst the people she is in a gated community in a house that cost $25 million. But anyway, so she bought this house. I did real estate listings. Okay. Great.

So the house was purchased or was first reported on April 13th. Mm-hmm. So I think that's like when the deal went through. Yeah. Because it was not announced that it was Angelina Jolie who had bought the house, which is publicly available information until June 1st. So keep that in mind. Yes.

In the piece, it says that she, in the lead, she has moved in four days ago. That's like a quick move. I mean, a quick invite someone into your home. It's very true. It takes me like nine months to really move into a new place. So I think that we have to assume, like, if you sign the papers on buying a $25 million home, I assume that you can be like, I would like to move in pretty quickly. and I do believe that the home was vacant.

Right. But you have to build in, what? I mean, she has six kids. You can't do anything swiftly or nimbly with six kids. Right. And you've got the rental. And, I mean, they have been mobile in their lives. They're used to kind of...

Big point in the article. Yeah, switching homes. But I just have to figure in terms... Like, I don't really understand the concept of escrow, but also... Dying to know what the down payment is on $25 million house. Is she paying in cash? Yes. You think she's, you think Angelina Jolie has $25 million on hand?

I think she got a mortgage. I think she probably has like $5 million on hand. Okay, sure. And she put all of that into the, yeah. All right, that I believe. I don't think that she paid the whole thing in cash. No, I don't think she probably paid the whole thing. I mean, who pays upfront a whole $25 million?

I don't know. It's like not even like her financial advisor wouldn't against that, but would not advise that. It would probably be, no. I think that's a good point as well. We'll get you a deal. So she's got enough for the initial down payment. Right. Rich people have mortgages, too. That's true. That's my take. Because it can be a good decision.

That makes sense. So April 13th is I think when papers are signed, I don't really know about escrow. What's the earliest you think she moves in? May 15th. Okay. Absolutely earliest. Great. Thank you. So I do know, here's the other kind of end point I have, is that in the lead, Knox, the youngest son, asks mom, When are you going to put the water slide up? Well, guys, I would like you to know that on June 9th, a water slide was photographed on the property by Popsrati helicopters. So they were in residence by June 9th. Wow, Amanda. It's fine.

Okay. So we have our window. Did you remember those pictures or did you go looking for them this morning? Oh, I remember them. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I didn't remember it was June 9th, but I was like, oh, I know that the water slide was photographed. So at some point, they did in fact film this.

So we have a date, like, May 15th. to June 9th is the window. Juliet, when was the Brad Pitt GQ piece published? Like early May, right? May 3rd! Yeah. May 3rd. They published it and Angelina Julie picked up the phone and said,

come to my house next week, and I will tell you everything that you need to know, except I won't. I'll just talk about my film that sounds a little dark the whole time. This is excellent work by you. I'm really impressed. So I just don't think I have seen enough of kind of this behind the scenes wrangling of when you do the shoot

who has the cover, how are these going, especially at the level of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who are so intense and who can demand whatever they want. They aren't in until the very last minute. And oh, here's the final thing. Oh, great. And this is like, this is when I'm actually really crazy. Okay.

At the very end of the piece, So Angelina Jolie has a new film that is premiering on Netflix this month. Is it this month, though? Oh, no, I'm sorry. It's September. It's the month of the magazine. And so they say in the profile, first they killed my father on Netflix this month, which is the first information about when this film is being released.

And if you actually, I went and looked at all of Netflix's press information, and it just says coming soon, they have no details on date. Yeah, it's like not publicly released. this is kind of the rollout. It also says in the piece that she was in post-production last summer, which is like a full year ago. So it's been done a long time. Yeah.

And they did a showing in Cambodia in February per the article. Exactly. So I genuinely think she picked the timing of the release and then organized this whole press thing around it to counteract the Brad profile. That is my intense theory. Question. Yes. Does Brad Pitt have a September project? Not starring Brad Pitt. But here's what's amazing is that Brad Pitt had a Netflix May project.

Oh shit. Yes. And then Plan B was also involved in Okja, which was Netflix's June big release. Right. So I think, I mean, you know, Netflix will never talk. But if those walls could talk, they know a lot of things about what's going on with these people and their, you know, machinations. Question for you. Yes. Did you watch the trailer for Brad's status? I did not. Well, that's also a plan B movie coming out in September. Just saying, that sounds like Oscar season to me. A Penn Stiller?

Yeah. No. Can you go serious? I'm not saying it'll get there, but I'm just saying it's an Amazon Studios plan B movie in theaters in theaters in September. Listen. That actually is an Oscar play because if you didn't think it had any chance of getting an Oscar, you wouldn't put it in theaters. That's true. Particularly now after the whole.

Yeah, I mean Netflix really is only due. doing theater releases for Oscars. That's true. So I'm just saying. Listen, Netflix is a complex machine, as we all know. Yeah. We all know because they won't tell us anything. Exactly.

And I'm sure that there's a lot going on. And I would be surprised if even Angelina Jolie could pick the release date of her own film. So there was a moment related to Netflix in the piece, which she talks about pitching her Kimer Rouge movie to Ted Sarandos, the head of Netflix. And she makes it sound like she put together a pitch deck and, like, outfitted the room he was in to, like, really give him the hard sell. And he was like, yeah, and then he just agreed on the spot. But, like, who doesn't agree on the spot to an Angelina Jolie family? Plus, she probably pitched it.

If she was in post last summer, that means that she pitched it even before that, basically. Right. And she was still a private pit at that time. Who has, who has, like, a deal with. So packaged deal. Yeah, absolutely, that's how it happened. Also, I mean, just in the room, she created a visual experience of what this film might be. So basically, she gave a PowerPoint presentation.

and then they said you're Angelina Jolie, sure. Yeah, absolutely. That's fine. You know what? May we all get to be Angelina Jolie and make a PowerPoint presentation and have Netflix give us millions of dollars? I'd love to have carte lunch. I wish that listener, I wish that for you as well.

But like, yeah, I honestly, Angelina is famously press savvy. She doesn't have a publicist. She organizes all this herself. She's always kind of been known to arrange and be very active. and strategic in this stuff. And this is just a phenomenal reaction to the Brad Pitt story. And it's like, it's amazing. I really honestly do think that she just called the minute it was out.

And it was like, here's my plan. Here's what we're going to do. She has an assistant? Does she call her agent? Because she's not calling Graydon Carter. Although actually she might. She might. I honestly, I don't know.

I, you know, I have to assume that she has assistants and people who, kind of send the emails and make the calls. So I would not be surprised if there was a personal touch aspect to this. Question for you. Yes. Does this mean that Graydon Carter's picking sides? Does this now mean that like the everyone involved with the two magazines have been like cordoned off to one side or to the other?

Well, it's interesting, right? Because they're both owned by kind of an assed. Right. And like it's also kind of unfair because I don't know if Angelina Jolie would get the same kind of treatment and GQ style because it's like a men's fashion magazine. Yes, that's very true. Whereas she kind of pulled a power play going to a co-ed magazine. I kind of like that.

Right. Well, the other thing, obviously, with Vanity Fair, it's all about who they can get at the Vanity Fair Oscar party. Sure. So. I'm available. As am I. It's at the Sunset Tower. I love the Sunset Tower.

I would love to drink there for free sometime because it's very expensive. I like going to parties. So I think that this is more a calculated. I think he already, he knows that Brad Pitt's already on GQ. So he's been upstage a little. And then if you can get Angela. Angelina to come to the party or Angelina to be on your side, I think that's good for the magazine, which is what I think the decision is.

I think it's more of a business decision than picking sides. Right, right. It's just so interesting. Like, if it's a business decision, which I agree with, what you just said, does it help your magazine to put this online six weeks in advance? Like, it's just so weird. That's why I wonder whether there's another story coming out, because here's the thing. If she went to those lengths as I just crazily charted. The water slide, revelation is the moment.

June 9th. It was all done before June 9th. I'm honored to know you right now. They're on the Daily Mail. You can go look. I would say that this is not the only thing that she's going to be doing in the press. Right. And so they either did it because, you know, they do have the exclusive and they wanted to get ahead of it. I don't know. Maybe some sort of bombshell is about to drop. I kind of doubt it. I do too. I really hope there's no bombshell coming. I want to talk with the actual article. But first, let's talk about our friends at hotels tonight. So I'm usually kind of a planner, especially when it comes to traveling, and I do love to travel. But now there's this app called Hotel Tonight that's been making me rethink things.

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profile at this point. Angela and or Julie is not quoted very much in this piece. And she's certainly not quoted, the ratio of quotes to writing is small. It was so much more history about the relationship than I needed. We know. Yeah. And you know what I thought was interesting? Like, if you put Angelina Jolie on the cover of your magazine, like, no one is expecting anything other than a very sympathetic profile of Angela Jolie. And, you know, Vanity Farris famously does that with women who have just gone through divorce, see Jennifer's Anderson and Garner. Also, can we just go for a I note the best, the most revealing or kind of best through line of this whole piece is that in the first section when she's talking about the new house, she goes, she says, I didn't even

know I needed throw pillows decorating house stuff. That was always Brad's thing. Which is very funny. If you recall in the Jennifer Aniston Vanity Fair profile after her divorce, I think it's actually the kicker, which is about how she finally gets to have a comfy couch now, because Brad Pitt is no longer designing her house. Totally. So this is just Brad Pitt is like the shittiest home decorator on the planet apparently. That's really funny. It's amazing. Brad Pitt definitely thinks he's really smart and he's just not. He's just like really into like architecture and fancy tables and stuff. One thing is Brad Pitt. I want to live here. He's so hot. It's wild. They link in the article to hit the old photo shoot, which in retrospect is like so disturbing of him

and Angelian Jolie like being domestic with like fake children. Yeah, still can't believe they did that. He is so hot in it. It's like, makes me uncomfortable. I actually, I don't know, just a really attractive man. I can't get over it. Well, I would also say if you wanted to just compare the photographs from the Vanity Fair story and the GQ style story. Okay, I'm glad you brought this up.

I think the GQ style photographs are just far and away better than the Vanity Fair. This is one of the worst photos shoots, which also contributes to your rushed theory. Yeah. Because it's so unimaginative. You know what it reminded me of in like a pathetic way? What's that? The film La La Land. I was just like, this is exactly what that Emma Stone character would have done.

That fake old Hollywood type of thing. You know, Vanity Fair does this a lot because they're trying to, like, they're really playing into that old glamour profile. I think for all of the, like, first and second generation Vanity Fair readers. So this is, it looks like every other Vanity Fair profile, like, photo spread was my reaction. Yeah. But, and she's so beautiful that, you know, the one of her on set in the Jodhurs or whatever those are. Yeah, I mean, she looks amazing.

Yeah. But the pictures are all done at a studio. Warner Brothers in Burbank. You're right. The one with like the astronaut. Why is there an astronaut? Because that's like one of the people involved in the shoot and he just like try it on an astronaut suit.

Sure, why not? But that is very lot of land. You're right. And I was just like, where's Emma Stone character? Who's his character? Or Mia? What was the name of that character? Mia's right.

Yeah. Yes. I thought that the photos were really bad. She is really beautiful. But also like it was really dissent to me because it was just contributed to your theory because a lot of it talks about how she's like getting older. she mentions she has gray hair she mentioned like she can't imagine like being

someone's sex symbol or whatever. It actually would have been a cool opportunity to give her the Brad treatment which is to show her obviously in a beautiful glossy way but as like an older woman. Like what? Like I just feel like we still are getting the same picture of Angelina Jolie and Julie and maybe she doesn't want it. Also she doesn't have gray hair like she is one of the most beautiful

women in the world and she's just being self-deprecating. There's like a way to like use light though to make her look more real. To have her be, to have a natural photo shoot instead of the highly styled stuff that we're used to from both Vanity Fair and Angelina Julie. I totally agree. Like you just didn't have to be exactly the same. I mean, it just looks, it's, you're right. It's, like, no imagination. No imagination. A hundred percent. And like, kudos to Q for as silly as it is to, like, think about how much money they spent on a 10-day trip of Brad Pitt in the National Parks. I still thought those pictures were incredible and, like,

would like to look at them again. Exactly. And honestly, impactful. Like, they just were, and these photos are totally a throw away. percent. So photos. Negative. Yeah. The profile itself beyond kind of that Brad detail and essentially one tense paragraph where she deflects on the divorce stuff. Yeah. And it says in the piece that she had not wanted to talk about the breakup, which I think means like really terrifying emails, don't ask about the breakup, don't ask about the breakup, don't ask about the breakup, don't ask about the breakup. Shouts to the writer for asking anyway. Yeah. Well, I think. think I'm I honestly here's how this happened is that they were like we can't do a piece

where she doesn't talk about it and so they agreed on the very specific terms where you could ask in broad terms but she can't talk about legal proceedings or anything that happened on the plane etc and that was all hammered out beforehand because that's how it works the most telling line was like when she cuts herself off yes and the question is um she says so she says that her kids have been very brave and then the writer paraphrases saying brave when and angeline just Angelina Jolie responds, quote, in times they needed to be, we're all just healing from the events that led to the filing. They're not healing from divorce. They're healing from, they're healing from some, from life, from things in life.

Right. So that's kind of interesting. Like, she doesn't, she, that's like to me, like, couching the divorce as not like the schism, but as sort of like, just like the subsequent events of something else that happened, basically. Well, I thought that was a reference to the plane. Yeah, I did too. And you know what? Candidly, I respect her not wanting to talk about the specifics of it, like, a fight that happened between her family.

Like, that's fine with me. Yeah, I agree with you. There was a lot about the making of her movie and sort of like her relationship with the country of Cambodia, which I found to be like not deep enough for it to like make me like anyone more, or feel like I was learning anything. and as a result kind of just like to Hollywood like savior narrativey for me it was a little press releasey yeah um which is not to diminish the project or her relationship to the country or her son's relationship to the country um or like the very distressing topic that it explores yeah

but the way that it was kind of not even shoehorned because it was such a dramatic part of the piece i you know again i it was just oh it was very clear to me that she only agreed to talk about the movie yeah and then that she agreed to do this with the terms that, like, I honestly would not be surprised that there's, they would never agree to a word count. But I just think that she so specifically was like, I am doing this to talk about this movie. But here's the other thing that I wanted to talk about that was interesting. You brought up that you know plenty about the relationship and it spent so much time doing

history about that relationship. I thought that was, I was really interested that that was even in the piece because, it was a lot more matter of fact and unbiased than you would expect a cover story about someone's come back to be. Sure. In a way that I couldn't really figure out what was going on. I kind of feel like there just wasn't a lot there. So if you're telling the story of Angeline Jolie, like that's kind of...

I think that that was very true. And I wondered also whether they were displeased with the interview that they got. And so that was their way of expressing that. Can I ask you a question? Yes. Does she have a good career? Angelina Jolie. What's your favorite Angelina Jolie piece of media?

Other than like, I don't know, on the red carpet with Billy Bob Thornton. Because I liked Girl Interrupted. Okay, that's good. That came out in the 90s. Yeah. Just to be clear. Sure, 99. Listen, 99.

99. Come on. That was 18 years ago. Isn't that crazy? We're old. I know. It's tough. Okay, anyway. I think she actually very successful because she was a successful female action star before, you know, like she invented Charlie's Theron.

Right. And it's not movies that you and I love. Right. Like I don't watch Lara Croft a lot, but people really like all that stuff. I did like Mr. Mrs. Smith. I never saw it. She was in a lot of movies that made a lot of money, which is very successful. She did really well.

I remember a couple years ago. Yeah. Or like that did really well. But I just, just kind of for her level of fame. One thing that actually the article did put into perspective for me was that when she ended up with Brad Pitt, it gave her a whole different level of fame because he's so famous. Yes. And I kind of didn't really think about that because they've just sort of been like a given for a while. And to me, she was already very famous.

Yeah. But if you look back in her career, it's not, I think you actually, if you went like movie for movie pound for pound between her and Jennifer Aniston, I would. I would conclude that Aniston has a better career, which is like kind of besides the point. But I'm just like it speaks to the level of her as a celebrity and not an actress. Yeah, absolutely. We all lost our minds when this happened in 2004. That's kind of what. And you're right.

She was mostly famous for kind of the Billy Bob Thornton and the blood vile. And she was like the weird girl. And at the time, everyone was so outrage and so Team Aniston because she was like, girl next door. And everyone loved her from friends, which I did too. I don't mean like everyone. But, and Angelina Jolie was just this usurper. And she didn't have any of the humanitarian work that she does internationally. She wasn't doing any of that.

Yeah, not yet. And she hadn't done kind of all the op-eds and the cancer awareness, which is what you and I still admire her the host for. 100%. It's just interesting. Like, I can't really imagine, like, who would this, like, happen to? I don't even know. It's hard.

She's just very unique. in the consciousness. There's no one else really like her. I mean, I guess in old, like, Elizabeth Taylor was, like, kind of similar. I mean, she's obviously an actress first, but then just became a celebrity. I mean, she kept acting and stuff. But, like, for certain, I think for women in particular in Hollywood, there's a point where you can kind of, like, separate from your acting career and just become more of, like, a public figure.

Yeah. Particularly for, like, Angeline Jolene, you're so committed to humanitarian work. And, you know, she just has made charity a huge part of her life, which is really, which is cool. I think it's also, like, she kind of, like, is outside of the person. parameters of a celebrity profile. It's like one of the reason that it's like kind of a boring story. And I'm just sort of like, is it a press release? Right.

Because a comic card, this has been happening at The Bachelor. When something unique happens, there's not a language to discuss it, basically. And so it's very similar that like she falls outside of like the model of a glossy profile. And if it's rushed, then it's even harder to like shoehorn her in. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like the other thing here is that we expect this particular type of profile or piece to be confessional. even if you were the person, even if you're the Aniston or the Garner and you're like bouncing back from a very difficult time, you expect someone to say, it's been a hard time you expect a couple coated barbs at the other person. You expect the person to admit weakness as a way of earning sympathy, basically, you know, as a reorienting their career.

And this does not, I'm not saying that she should admit weakness, but her strategy is very much, we're figuring it out and here are all the other things that I'm doing. And I think that's probably their right strategy. Yeah. I, but it is interesting, you know, I was going to ask you, who do you think, like, quote, wins. Sure. Unfortunately, I kind of think, Brad. I kind of do, too. It's mostly because, no offense to this writer.

and she wasn't given a lot to work with. This is just a boring article. Yeah, and I think, I agree. Yeah, I just kind of think the subject matter. She's also, like, not a great director. Who's your better director? George Clooney or Angelina Jolie? Oh, geez. Because they're both bad, but his movies get celebrated more. Can we just appreciate them for, well, yeah, that's true.

I'm just saying, I think it's almost like a bias against her, like, because she's like, in some weird way. Everyone's learning, you know? Sure. I have no problem with them. I just think, like, I'm just sort of like, her movies are bad, but there's a lot of bad movies out there. Yeah, it's true. She's just very serious in her badness. That also makes it harder.

Maybe long game, this is the right call. I don't think here all the things that Brad did is a good call for her, especially since we know that he had substance issues. And it was like not a, that's a tough time. You don't want to be the person pointing blame on that one, especially when there are six kids involved. Wait, side note, very small one. Did you notice there are six bedrooms in the house for seven people? $25 million and people got to share bedrooms. Who do you think sharing?

Twins? Maybe. Or like maybe Vivian and Shiloh? Or maybe Vivian and Zahara because she says like Zahara is the rock of the family, which I think means she's like the nice one. Right. That's interesting. That is interesting.

Yeah. Get another bedroom. Maybe one of them sleeps outside in a tent. they probably like repurposed, you know, some second library or whatever. How many bathrooms? 10. Do you know? It says 10.

One thing I noticed in L.A. is there's just like a lot of homes are not built with enough bathrooms. There's a lot of like two bedrooms one bath. No. No. More like just, I would rather have more bathrooms than like bedrooms. Yeah, you can't have people come to stay and like use your bathroom past like the age of 26. That's really tough. That's awful.

Anyway, I think this is probably a good long term strategy for her. She's very clearly just, she's moved. past being an actress, being a celebrity. I think, you know, she even does some things at the end of just like, I'm just trying to be a mom. Oh, this is one line I wanted to talk about. She talks about how she's reconciled with John Boyt, her father. They've always had a rocky relationship.

She says he's been very good at understanding they needed their grandfather at this time. I had to do a therapy meeting last night, and he was just around. And then she talks about how he took care. But I like how she just slipped the therapy meeting in. instead of Brad who's like, I went looking for two therapists, you know? Yeah, she may be more normal than him is perhaps also the situation. It's true. And she talks about like wanting to be a mom and wanting to do all of these projects that are important to her.

So I think respectable is what she's going for. Totally. And ultimately that'll be good for her. But I think in this moment, it's just not that fun. Yeah, it's hard. She's always known how to be interested. as well as famous. Yeah.

And this is famous without being super interesting. Yeah, because she's like obviously and understandably more guarded right now. Yeah. She's working through something. But like I don't, how long can you be a boring famous person in 2017? I don't know, especially if your movie is really serious and on Netflix. Yeah, that's a tough one. Though, you know, I don't think Brad Pitt's film did a lot better.

That's true. But he has such a successful second shadow career now. Right, and he's like a sculptor. Yeah. Just at his weird studio making art and working through it. Like he's kind of like in the Ron Howard phase of his career right now of like being like a boss, you know? I guess so. And he's still acting and he's still trying to be like a personality as opposed to.

Also he's got his company, Plan B, but she started with Jennifer Anderson kept. They've got the sauce there. They know how to pick a winner. And he's just able to drop. himself in to be the savior for 10 minutes at the end, a 12 years of slave whenever he wants to. Yeah. So that's like an unfair advantage. D.D. Gardner is his unfair advantage.

That's very true. I guess my question is they've both been, I think, remarkably careful in how they talk about the other person and how they talk about the kids, which I have total respect for. They're also so good at not getting photographed. It's amazing. Yes. Like Brad only gets photographed at his studio. Yeah, and like at events. Yeah.

But they have been so, I wonder if they will ever be in public together again. I wouldn't rule it out. Not like together as a couple, but I think they might kind of do like the post-divorce. Sure. You know, we're just creating it. Sunday afternoon at your kids' production of Beauty and the Beast a la Taubuio Maguire and Jen Meyer. I would not be surprised, which I actually think is great. Yeah, totally.

Like, you know, it may not be as like Us Weekly splashy cover, but we don't buy Us Weekly anymore. So that's great to have a model of a divorce family that's like figuring it all out. Should we start a new Us Weekly? Yes. Yes. I'm in. Proposed title. Thanks to Angelina Jolie for spicing up this Wednesday.

At the end of the day, it was fun to talk about. At least she did it. She could have not done it. I like her ultimately. I don't really know why. There's not a lot of evidence. We'd be like, this is why. But I do.

You know why. Why? Because she's interesting. Yeah. Even if this particular moment in her life is not hugely interesting. She's well-meaning and ambitious. She's well-meaning. They can't answer things. Yeah.

Shout out to her. Still looking great with her double mastectomy. Yeah, she looks fantastic. Thanks for listening. Thanks to Hotel Tonight. Thank you.