Photo shoot of a young and not yet famous Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie was only 15 years old when she got to a professional photo shoot with the famous Hollywood photographer Harry Langdon in Los Angeles. Then almost no one knew her, although her father was the famous actor Jon Voight.
For several decades Langdon photographed people from the sphere of show business. He has filmed celebrities such as George Clooney, Halle Berry and Sophia Loren. "When we are asked to take pictures of a relative of a famous actor, in this case, Jon Voight, we always think: "Well, again, we can only hope that she knows what to do, and we will try," but in the end it was a big surprise!" says the photographer.
Langdon recalls that he was amazed at how confident Angelina was during the shooting. "Anyway, it was like she knew what to do. I do not know, maybe it was telepathy or something else. Usually I can imagine in my mind a pose in which a great shot will turn out — and then bam! —she's just taking it."
The shooting took place on January 11, 1991 and lasted about two hours. Langdon didn't take any payment. "We used such a concept as a "trial photo shoot." Something like a free sample in the hope that these pictures will someday become valuable."
The photographer recalls that there were very few conversations on the set, which, according to him, is atypical for young actors. "Sometimes during photo shoots I get involved in deep conversations, for example about skiing or horse riding. With Jolie, everything was just about the case."
Langdon found out how old the young model was after the shooting. "I didn't know anything about her. I didn't know anything about the conditions in which she lives, about her boyfriends. I didn't know anything about her acting experience."
Among the numerous outfits for the photo shoot was a swimsuit. "She started posing pretty sexy. But these poses don't really suit her. She radiated pure sensuality. I was just shooting from different angles."
Angelina Jolie's career in cinema will begin only a couple of years after this photo shoot. In 2000, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the film "Interrupted Life".
The photographer gave the pictures to John Voight, after which he never heard of them again.
"When it comes to acting, you need to demonstrate most of your body language and sensuality as vividly as possible in front of the camera. Because there is no video camera, there are no dialogues, you need to express everything with the help of the body, which she did just fine."
"Now, when I'm shooting an aspiring actor, I do not know who he will become in the end. The more experience I gain, the more I realize that every photo shoot I do can become meaningful."