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Two years ago, alluring Hollywood bad girl Angelina Jolie brought to life Lara Croft, the butt-kicking, tomb-raiding video game heroine responsible for so many adolescent boys' sore thumbs and naughty daydreams. This month she returns to theaters in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," on a quest to save the mythical Pandora's Box. MTV News correspondent Iann Robinson sat down with Jolie to discuss her adventuresome alter ego as well as her penchant for political punk rock.
Iann Robinson: Comic book movies, video game movies — there have been a lot of 'em. Most of the comic book films have been great, but video game movies for the most part have fallen to crap. "Tomb Raider" has sort of risen above and established itself as its own film, outside of the video game. Why do you think that is?
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"It's a very real world that she travels and has adventures in." — Angelina Jolie
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Angelina Jolie: I thought we kind of hadn't successfully done as much in the first film, but I think we certainly have done it in this sequel. ... People liked [Lara Croft] outside of the game before we even came along. And she's just ... her spirit of adventure, maybe the countries we visit, seem to take you out of any surreal computer world, and it's a very real world that she travels and has adventures in.
Robinson: Now, men and women alike don't usually buy the pretty girl doing anything other than sort of standing around and screaming, but at no point does Lara Croft ever have to be rescued by the alpha male. She is the tough bastard through the whole movie. And another thing that interests me is that she just stays hot. You stare at her and you're just like, 'This woman is hot.' And at the same time she's tough as nails. We totally buy her shooting things and killing people and whatever. How did you do that? That's not an easy thing to pull off.
Jolie: Well, thank you. We took seriously the training, and I took a lot of hard knocks. I got a lot of bruises and became as strong as I possibly could so I could do as many stunts and I could really fight. It feels sexy to be that capable, and I think that comes across.
Robinson: It totally does for me. Now, when the first one opened, it was like the biggest opening for a film driven by a female lead character. Are you at all tense about what's gonna happen with the second one?
Jolie: I'm not overly worried. You know, I'm not losing any sleep. But yeah, I think there is that kind of pressure of, you know, if it totally fails, I'm the only one on that poster.
Robinson: Yeah, that's no good. Now, you've done both drama and action, winning an Academy Award and also doing films like "Tomb Raider." Do you prefer doing action or drama?
Jolie: I like them both, and I think it's nice to be able to do both. I think it's good for all of us when we can focus and be really serious and get to the deeper side of ourselves, and the other side of us just needs to get dirty and get out there and have some fun and go crazy and have an adventure.
Robinson: One thing I've always liked about Lara Croft is she's sweet and she's nice when she needs to be, but she can also be kind of — what's the word? — I guess enigma or bitch or whatever. Do you think that she's a good role model for young women to be independent and strong?
Jolie: Yeah, I think she is. She's athletic and she's healthy, but she's also one of the good guys. She fights for the right things. I mean, she'd certainly kill you if you were the bad person, but she'd do it for the right reasons.
Robinson: Do you think Lara digs the Clash?
Jolie: I think Lara absolutely digs the Clash.
Robinson: Are they really your favorite band?
Jolie: They've always been my favorite band. I've been searching forever for someone to tell me who the Clash of today is, who's the voice of my generation, who's responsible and political, and there's no one.
Robinson: There's no one. There's this band Rancid, and they were like, "They passed the torch to us," and I was like, "Um, yeah, no ... I don't think so." Yeah, I mean, what's your favorite record?
Jolie: I don't know. I like them all for different reasons.
Robinson: Oh yeah?
Jolie: Yeah, I don't really have a specific, because so many of them are sort of times of my life.
Robinson: Well, like, what era were they when you first got into them?
Jolie: I was late getting into them. It was before my generation anyway. When I was about 13, 14 I did nothing, and almost every film I do, before I do a lot of action sequences I sit in my trailer and listen to the Clash and pace around my room.
Robinson: That's a great thing. Usually I interview these people and they talk about the Dave Matthews Band and I just can't relate to that at all. It's been lovely talking to you.
Jolie: Nice talking to you.
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Photo: Alex Bailey
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