The 2001 Tomb Raider movie won't go down as one of the best video game adaptations of all time, but it was a moderate success at the box office, and Lara Croft remains one of Angelina Jolie's most recognizable roles.
Jolie returned as the iconic adventurer for sequel The Cradle of Life in 2003, but the Eternals star has now revealed that she very nearly passed on the role after initially turning it down. However, once she realized she'd be given the opportunity to train with the military, she reconsidered.
“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," she tells Collider. "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.”
Jolie has never shied away from doing her own stunts, and sees plenty of action in her latest film, Those Who Wish Me Dead, playing a fearless firefighter who risks her life to save a young boy who witnesses a murder.
"I do think the more we have in film that’s visual effects, the more it’s important to do your own stunts if you can because I think the audience knows the difference and it feels real when it is,” she adds.
Of course, fans are most looking forward to Jolie's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Thena in Eternals, and we recently got our first glimpse of her wielding a sword in Marvel's Phase 4 preview video.
Those Who Wish Me Dead is now available to stream on HBO Max, and if you're a fan of early '90s action movies, it's well worth checking out.