Angelina Jolie Refutes Child Abuse Claims in Netflix Movie; Says It's 'False and Upsetting'
Angelina Jolie and the co-producer of "First They Killed My Father," Rithy Panh, have refuted claims of child abuse following the actress' recent interview. Jolie talked about how her Netflix movie found their child lead star but her statements were misconstrued and it blew up into a controversy.
Jolie related to Vanity Fair how the kids who were auditioning were made to do a scene involving money. Jolie and the film producers wanted to elicit a reaction from the kids, but the way the actress described her strategy to the magazine drew criticisms.
People lambasted Jolie and the casting directors for being emotionally abusive towards the children during the audition process because it sounded like they dangled and teased the poor kids with money. The actress was then forced to release a statement saying the assumptions from the public had been "false and upsetting."
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"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," Jolie told The Huffington Post.
She further expressed that she is upset at Vanity Fair for writing the audition exercise as if it were a real scenario.
Jolie made it clear that the children were told they were playing a game, and that child experts consisting of doctors and therapists had been on hand on the set all throughout the filming. Jolie also said that she would be outraged herself if the children were indeed emotionally abused on the set of "First They Killed My Father," but it didn't happen the way it was made to appear in the Vanity Fair interview.
Panh also told CBC News that the story on Jolie's encounters with the children was "grossly mischaracterize[d]." The children were shown beforehand that the film crew was everywhere and that the scene they had to audition for was part of what really happened to Loung Ung, whose life was the movie's basis, so the kids were asked to pretend.
Vanity Fair has not commented on Jolie's latest statements as of press time.
Netflix will stream "First They Killed My Father" this September.
