The 2001 movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider received a ton of negative feedback from critics and has a poor score of just 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite this, Angelina Jolie, who played the lead character in the film, was praised for her performance and for trying out something new.

Angelina Jolie

However, Angelina Jolie was initially skeptical about playing Lara Croft as she felt she would not be able to pull the character off. Now, while her fans were almost about to get robbed of seeing her play the much-loved video game character, there was something that made her rethink her decision. What exactly was it, you may ask? Well, Angelina Jolie loves to travel and that’s what she would be doing while shooting the film. Thanks to the promises made by the team, Angelina Jolie was on-board!

Why did Angelina Jolie Choose to do Tomb Raider?

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft

While Angelina Jolie realized that it was important for actors to do their own stunt work because of Tomb Raider, she was initially unsure about going through with the film. Talking to Collider, Jolie stated that she didn’t feel that the character of Lara Croft would suit her. However, when she found out that the package comes with getting to travel the world and train with the British Military, she gave the role a second thought.
“I said, ‘I really didn’t feel like that character suited me.’ I actually didn’t at first want to do it. I said no. But they said you can travel the world and train with the British Military and so I had three months of seeing what I could do. And I would encourage anybody to do that. Sign up for as much as you can, give yourself a few months, push yourself to the limit and see, ‘What can I do?’ And you find that there’s a lot you didn’t know and some crazy, weird things you can do or you’re capable of, so I love it.”
Well, that seems like some solid advice! While it’s weird to imagine someone else playing Lara Croft other than Jolie, we cannot help but wonder what the film would have been like if Jolie decided to stick with her initial decision.

Angelina Jolie Apparently Intimidated Megan Fox

Megan Fox

After Jolie played Lara Croft in two films (2001 and 2003), it was time for a reboot, and actress Alicia Vikander took over the role of Lara. However, there was a moment when Megan Fox was being considered for the role before she declined it. Fox cited creative differences as the reason why she refused to be a part of Tomb Raider. A bit later, though, rumors went flying around that Fox declined the role because she didn’t want to be compared to Jolie.

New York Daily News reported, an insider stated,
“The offer has been on the table for Megan for a while but she’s reluctantly turned it down. She’s the logical choice to play Lara and she loves the character, but the comparison with Angelina is just too much.”
Another source stated that Fox didn’t want to be “Poor man’s Angelina Jolie.” It would’ve been a treat to watch Fox bring Lara Croft to life in her own way. But oh well, there’s no point crying over spilled milk, is there?

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is available to stream on HBO Max.

Source: Collider