Angelina Jolie is “pithy” says Patricia Cornwell

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I’m slightly ashamed to admit this, but I always thought “pithy” meant something derogatory. Which means that when I read this LA Times interview with best-selling author Patricia Cornwell – who was speaking about Angelina Jolie taking on the role Cornwell created – I initially thought Cornwell was a H8TER. Turns out, Cornwell was saying that Angelina is a smart, substantive ball-buster, and that’s why Jolie should play Kay Scarpetta in the film adaptation. Angelina signed on to the project last spring – and the film will likely be her next project after she films The Tourist.

Anyway, I found the interview with Cornwell very interesting. I’m going to tell my mom that Jolie got Cornwell’s express approval, because my mom loves the Scarpetta series. Cornwell is basically defending Jolie’s casting not only because of Jolie’s “pithiness” but because Cornwell knows how upset Scarpetta fans were with someone so much younger than the written character playing the part.

Depending on how one counts, it was a meeting either six months or almost 20 years in the making. The major participants? Two pop-culture luminaries. One was Angelina Jolie, the Oscar winner who launched 1,000 paparazzi and carried off with swagger such action flicks as “Wanted” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.” The other was Patricia Cornwell, one of the world’s most commercial authors.

The topic was Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell’s signature character, the medical examiner in 17 mystery novels. For almost two decades, Hollywood has attempted to bring Scarpetta to the big screen. Various studios have spent more than $10 million in development, and talent as disparate as actresses Demi Moore and Kristin Scott Thomas and directors Joel Schumacher and Antonia Bird have attempted to tackle books in the series. “I think she’s a bit of the runaway bride,” Cornwell says of her literary alter ego’s relationship with Hollywood. “She flirts, but won’t get married.”

But Jolie’s desire to play Scarpetta has revived prospects of a movie franchise that could begin shooting as early as next fall. In a surprise, Fox 2000 has decided to jettison the books in favor of an origins story written directly for the screen. Set in the present day (as opposed to the late 1980s, when the series begins), the film will feature a distinctly younger Scarpetta in the years before she becomes the steely, unassailable expert pathologist she is today.

In a recent phone interview, Cornwell said her meeting with Jolie last spring on the set of “Salt,” the actress’ latest thriller, was crucial to getting the character back on track for a film incarnation. And no, the author doesn’t object to the original screenplay approach. The script has been entrusted to little-known Irish screenwriter Kerry Williamson, who won the plum assignment over a slew of better-known scribes with her vision of a Scarpetta who hasn’t fully come into her own yet.

“There’s almost like this brewing passion in her, and intensity and sexuality that she doesn’t feel comfortable unleashing,” Williamson says. “In the books, she’s further along as a character, at the height of her career. In the screenplay, we bring her back to a time before that, when she’s just charting her course, and trying to break the glass ceiling. She sees what society might consider her female traits — intuition, compassion, instinct — as a weakness in the real world. Yet that is where her power lies. Her evolution is into accepting that.”

“I can understand why the studio doesn’t want to launch her as someone’s who’s my age,” says the 53-year-old Cornwell, who adds that by restarting Scarpetta in 2010, the filmmakers can update all the technology too. Like many authors of her stature, Cornwell has significant approval rights over how Scarpetta is rendered on-screen. Meanwhile, merely hammering out a deal was a long, protracted process.

Cornwell optioned her first book to Hollywood in 1990 for a mere $10,000. Later, she personally tried to persuade Jodie Foster to play Scarpetta. “Poor Jodie. I campaigned heavily for that in 1992,” says Cornwell. “But she didn’t think it was a good idea because of ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ ”

In the late 1990s, Cornwell attempted to write the screenplay herself, holing up with then-director Milcho Manchevski. “It still didn’t work,” she said. In 2000, Sony bought the rights to the series for $5 million, and hired writers such as Robert Rodat (“Saving Private Ryan”) and Stephen Schiff (“Lolita”), but still the movie stalled.

Cornwell says she began to get discouraged. “I used to say it’s the promised land that I’m not allowed to enter. There are very few people who have been No. 1 on the bestseller list and never had a film made of any kind.” Compounding her frustration was the fact that much of Scarpetta’s forensic-scientific expertise, which was startlingly original when the series began, had become a staple of television via “CSI” and its knockoffs.

Then, Cornwell’s other ICM agent, Ron Bernstein, contacted Geyer Kosinski, Jolie’s manager and now a producer on the film with Mark Gordon. Soon after, Fox 2000 and Universal were vying for the project, with Fox 2000 winning. The filmmakers want to make a character-driven thriller, not simply a big-screen procedural. “It’s about what it is to be a woman,” Williamson says. “The anima and animus reversing.”

Cornwell certainly sounds pleased about the recent turn in Hollywood’s quest to bring Scarpetta to the cineplex.

“When Angelina came out of left field last year, I was floored,” she says. And then it took months of protracted negotiations to get the two in a room together. “I think meeting the head of the KGB might have been easier,” Cornwell says. “It was all hush-hush.” Finally, Jolie’s “Salt” trailer, then located on Long Island, was deemed the spot. Cornwell suggested that she herself fly her proposed suitors — Gordon, Kosinski and Fox 2000 executive Carla Hacken — out to the set in her helicopter, an option that got derailed by the weather, so instead they all trekked out from Manhattan in a limo.

“[Angelina] had pithy things to say about what she wanted to do. She was direct and goal-oriented,” says Cornwell, who adds that she was particularly impressed by Jolie’s demeanor. “She waited on everyone, getting them their lunch, while her own staff was seated. She was aware intuitively how other people were feeling and wanted to make them comfortable. It was not typical for people of her stature.”

As Cornwell succinctly notes about dealing with celebrities: “Usually, it’s all about them.”

[From The Los Angeles Times]

Typically, when a beloved book series is being adapted for film, I do think you should try to skew slightly younger than the characters are written, just because if the first film is a hit, it’s going to be another two or three years before another one is made, and an actor doesn’t want to age too dramatically for the sequel. Think of Harrison Ford in the Jack Ryan role – by the time producers wanted to do a fourth Jack Ryan movie, Harrison was much too old to do that crap. Anyway, people are upset about Jolie’s casting all over again, but Cornwell isn’t bothered by the H8TERS.

Here’s a photo of Cornwell:
Galaxy Book Awards: Winners Boards

Angelina with Pax, and filming ‘The Tourist’ in Paris on February 25, 2010, credit: ANG/Fame Pictures.

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54 Responses to “Angelina Jolie is “pithy” says Patricia Cornwell”

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  1. Kim says:

    Cute pics of Pax . No comment on movie never heard of the novels. What is that stuffed animal he is holding?

  2. KIKI says:

    The author looks like Meg Ryan. Maybe they should of picked Meg instead.

  3. Love says:

    I love Angie and she’s so beautiful.

  4. Vanessa says:

    Well, I am not thrilled about Angie in this role but will wait and see. Kristin Scott Thomas looks more the part, altho I agree to make them younger as there could be more movies down the road. BUT, what I AM disappointed in is that they are creating some screenplay and not using one of the books. It sounds as if they have written something completely new….Hope it can live up to the books.

  5. Chana says:

    Heard of the novels from my mum. She says they are cheeseball thrillers-usually way too many pages detailing nonsense that typically has nothing to do with the story. Her opinion is that they are the thriller version of romance novels. She says the reason why they are best-selling is because the average person likes them and to quote her “The average person isn’t exactly tops when it comes to the old noodle”.

    I tried getting through one of them but it was a long slog-the writing is definitely that of someone who wishes to appeal to a mass audience, which of course makes sense if she wants to sell a lot of books but man oh man are they hopelessly cheeseball.

    I don’t see Angelina as Scarpetta though; young or old. Jodie Foster is actually a perfect fit in terms of looks and character of the face and such. It’d be like casting Angelina Jolie as Janet Reno.

  6. photo jojo says:

    Not a huge fan of La Jolie lately, in terms of the roles she’s picked, but as a fan of the books, I think she’ll kick @ss as Scarpetta. But… in the books she’s in her late 40’s, not mid 30’s. Why not find an actress in her late 40’s to do the role?

  7. Sumodo1 says:

    CORNWELL IS RIGHT!!!

    pith·y   /ˈpɪθi/ –adjective,pith·i·er, pith·i·est.
    1.brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance, or meaning; terse; forcible: a pithy observation.
    2.of, like, or abounding in pith.

  8. truthSF says:

    Damn, she looks good, thin but good!

  9. Guest says:

    all I can say is it is a pretty sad statement that an older women cannot play this part. What exactly does that say about our society?

  10. Lady Nightshade says:

    Isn’t Cronwell broke or something. I think she just needs the $$$

  11. Stephie says:

    I love the Scarpetta series but I’m not sure Angelina could pull it off. With the exceptions of Girl, Interrupted and Gia, I don’t think she’s a good actress.

  12. The Queen Bee says:

    meg ryan ruined her face. watching her on a screen is impossible – no studio would sink their dollars into that sort of mess.

  13. Kevin says:

    I like her hair like that. The bangs hide that huge, hideous, throbbing, vascular monstrosity on her 5 head. That bad boy has heroin addicts worldwide licking there parched, cracked, dry lips.

  14. snowball says:

    @Chana – “She says the reason why they are best-selling is because the average person likes them and to quote her “The average person isn’t exactly tops when it comes to the old noodle”.

    Guess my average self won’t be winning any top noodle races then. How offensive.

    I read the first handful or so and stopped when they started getting unbelievable and put Scarpetta’s niece Lucy in every freaking scene (AJ would be perfect for that role). The first books were great, even though apparently I’m stupid and average so don’t mind my opinion.

    Jolie couldn’t be more wrong to play Scarpetta. Even if they make her a young Scarpetta, AJ doesn’t look old enough to play someone who’s gone to medical school, done her residency, gone on to get a degree in forensic pathology and work her way up to the chief medical examiner. I suppose I’ll skip over how wrong she is physically.

    One movie I am not going to see.

  15. LOVE ANGELINA says:

    Heh Stephie that is like so not true. Angelina hasn’t really had so many films that weren’t really commercial. However when Angelina is given a great piece of drama to play ie The Channeling and A Mighty Heart (which the snub on that one for an Academy Award still makes me mad to this day) she truly shines and you know in your heart no one could have played those parts. Well to each their own I suppose.

    Anyway I would much rather see Angelina as Catwoman (if she is included in the new Batman movie) then do this movie anyway, I like the books and all so it will be fun to see Angelina take on an evolving character.

  16. Maritza says:

    I think Uma Thurman would be a better choice, she looks more like Cornwell than Angelina does.

  17. mslewis says:

    Snowball, I must be a dummy too because I loved the early Scarpatta books. Haven’t bought or read any in many years because they got a bit ridiculous and seemed forced in regard to story line (and Lucy).

    However, I totally disagree with you and the others who say Angelina is not right for the part. The script will be written for a younger person, which means Kay has not risen to the top of her profession yet and is possibly doing an internship or something of that nature. The movie will be about her early years and they are moving it to today rather than the 80s. Angelina will be perfect for the part.

    As for people who think some other actress should play the part . . . well, excuse me, but they tried to get the movie done with other actresses but could not get it off the ground. Enter Angelina Jolie and with one “Yes, I think I will play the part” the wheels start turning, money changes hands, a script is written and a movie will be made. Folks, that is Power in Hollywood right there!! The same thing happen with “The Tourist.” The producers tried for two years to get that one made and as soon as Angelina said yes, they dumped Charlize and that guy from Avatar and the movie is getting made. Say what you will but Angelina has major juice in Hollywood!!

    P.S.: Meg Ryan will never get another part in a movie because of the way she messed up her pretty face. The woman should have left her face alone and aged gracefully. Really sad.

  18. Jeri says:

    I used to like her books but they do go on & on now & it’s hard to keep any interest in the story when the writer seems to loose her sense of the story.

  19. TaylorB says:

    I wonder what her meaning behind the comment was, if someone called her ‘pithy’ I would wonder if it was their sarcastic way to say she was curt and snobby. Granted as ‘pithy’ is one of those words that can go either way [from flattering(strong person)to insulting(rude person)], there is also a chance she meant in the best sense of the term. However, I must say that in the current vernacular it is usually used in a sarcastic fashion that is less than complimentary. But who the hell knows?? Could go either way.

  20. lucy2 says:

    I’ve read a few of the books (I’m so-so on most of them), and don’t see Angelina as Scarpetta. I think she’s an OK actress and the movies will probably be fine, but it would have been a great role for an older actress. I remember when the casting news came out, people suggested Diane Lane, Glenn Close, Jodie Foster, Joan Allen etc. I think most people pictured her as 45-50 or so. Though I think Angelina looks older than 34, I don’t think she looks that much older.

  21. Chana says:

    snowball: If you took that to mean that you, personally, are stupid, then that’s entirely on you. You could have included yourself in the group who read the books simply because they are silly and enjoy them for that reason. But you decided to be offended instead.

    My mum reads them and likes them because they are cheeseball-she also loves romance novels for the same reason.

    I guess my point is, don’t be so quick to find something offensive that might really have nothing to do with you.

  22. simplicity says:

    Thanks for providing info on the books, I would not have known content or style. Exaggerated romance novels are of no interest to me.

    It looks as if she’s looking toward a franchise with a series.

    Kay Scarpetta Tomb Raider

  23. Cheyenne says:

    I haven’t heard of the books but it sounds like a part Angie would be good in. Or alternately, Catherine Zeta-Jones.

    Pax is getting very handsome. He’s going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up.

  24. ThunderC*nt says:

    Hi Love Angelina, glad to see you around again. Angie does look great here. Very aristocratic.

  25. TaylorB says:

    Okay, please don’t jump up my kazoo for asking this, but aren’t those basically pot boiler books? Sort of better suited to Lifetime Movie Network? I am just not very familiar with the author.

  26. Raven says:

    I’ve read a few Kay Scarpetta novels and they aren’t my favorites. I like Kathy Reichs much better for the same thing.

    For the concept I think that Jolie will be very good. It shows Scarpetta at the beginning, not at the height of her career, at least according to the article.

    Pithy means brief and to the point. It can reflect that someone understands very well what she is trying to express. I think Cornwall liked the idea Jolie had thought quite a bit about the character and could express herself cogently. Now there’s a word.

  27. I have only read one Cornwell book and I’m not very familiar with the series. But I like what she said about Angelina. I’m a fan haha

  28. old says:

    That’s okay, Kay Scarpetta fans–Jolie *looks* likes she’s in her late 40s…

  29. Lydia says:

    Maritza, they are casting for the character in a movie, not someone who looks like the author of the books. I’ve read all of the Scarpetta books, they are intricate and disturbing. I think AJ will be perfect for the part.

  30. teri says:

    I’m a huge fan of Angelinas and I’m sure her huge fan base will support this movie. Anything with Angelina Jolie in it and I’m game. Love her! They don’t hand out GG to poor actors. nuff said.

  31. Joy says:

    Sick of this woman…TERRIBLE actress

  32. Mimi says:

    @Joy Great that you have an opinion about Angie i have one too but about your comment… I’m SICK/TIRED of people that insist in comment in topics that are not their interests. It’s that DIFFICULT to STAY OUT and comment on topics about celebrity’s that you ACTUALLY LIKE?… GOD DAMMIT … And no hard feelings OK, you have all right to come here and said things that i don’t agree just like i’m doing now.

  33. Gigohead says:

    Damn..I love Kay Scarpetta! I thought Cornwall decided never to sell off her books to Hollywood, that’s why I love them because I never had to see it butchered on screen.

    There have been a group of actress other than Jolie who would have made better Kays: always imagined her first as Jodie Foster!!! My other pics would be Meg Ryan, Kristen Scott, Helen Hunt!!

  34. Livia says:

    Of course Patricia Cornwall thinks Jolie is “pithy” – she probably thinks she’s a lot of wonderful things. Cornwall is a lesbian, after all. She knows what she likes.

    Personally, I think Jolie will do an excellent job. True, she looks nothing like Scarpetta – but Jolie is an excellent actress (in my opinion), and not above futzing with her appearance in order to look more like the character and less like herself. And that’s what acting is all about anyway, so I don’t see the need for all the anger and angst. This will be a solid franchise, and if people don’t like it – there’s always the books. They won’t change.

  35. Solveig says:

    Wow, Angelina looks amazing…
    for a 50 years old.
    Watching those picture I can hear the word “overact” all around. She’s so predictable as an actress that I’m amazed by the fact that someone call her “talented”. She is talented in riveting public’s attention on her private life and the hype Brangelina created, but nothing more than this. Ok, most times the aim of the studios is “cash”, not “quality”. Enough said.

    Once I tried to read one of those Scarpetta novels and I didn’t finish it ’cause I’m not a fan of the genre, but I imagined Scarpetta as a petite woman, someone who looks fragile but with a strong personality, nothing to do with Angelina. Someone like Naomi Watts would be perfect, IMO.

  36. Peanut says:

    What the… who compared these books to romance novels?! They are all about serial killers, murderers, rapists… pretty disturbing stuff, IMO. Kay Scarpetta is a medical examiner, for crying out loud.

    Anyways, I’m with some other posters – loved the early books in the series but they’ve gotten too gory/disturbing/dark for me in the last number of years so I don’t read them any more.

  37. DD says:

    AJ has very strong features and due to her drastic weight loss, her face is really set now and she easily passes for a women in her 40s, mind you a very good looking woman, and especially if they put her in the style of those tourist photos, man she looks 10 years older than her age, not wrinkly old though, just mid forties.

  38. NicoleAM says:

    Hasn’t AJ already tackled this sort of role in the bomb known as Taking Lives? Side note: There are way too many actors/directors etc that are trying to compete w/ Silence of the Lambs. Ain’t happening folks.

  39. celandine says:

    I love the books and AJ is so wrong for the part. It’s like saying “Robert Pattinson is hot right now, let’s make a ‘young Citizen Kane’ movie!”. I suspect another great role that could have gone to an older actress is going to be wasted on 2 hours of Jolie’s pursed-lips “action face”.

  40. hells says:

    Angelina looks fabulous, her thinness reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. The same elegance and poise. I gotta say the poor soul who is posting under several names is ummmmm pathetic. Pretty bloody weird to hate so intensely….a bit freaky. Yeah…it may pay for you to ignore stories about Angelina, you may be shortening your life…….God knows life is too short to be hating, ahhh maybe propfessional care, a bit of cognitive behavioural therapy……hmmmm

  41. jayem says:

    It sounds a lot like “Bones” with Emily Deschanel (?), being a forensic whatever kind of thing. I’m sure La Jolie will do quite a good job with the part. She can be terse when she wants to be.

  42. lisa says:

    Let’s see the author of book and creator of the character is happy and excited to have her play the role.

    That is enough for me..

  43. KIKI says:

    Joan Rivers would be perfect for this role. I wish I were a casting agent, movies would be so much better.

  44. Beth says:

    It’s obvious from the comments that most people didn’t bother to read the article. The movie is going to be a prequel to the books, an original script not based on the books. Kay is going to be a younger version that is just starting out, before her success in the books. Casting a 40+ year old wouldn’t make sense. If the first is a success, they will probably do more movies based on the books. I don’t know how anyone can say Patricia was insulting Angelina just because she says she’s pithy. Patricia keeps talking about how great she would be in the role and how much she liked Angelina as a person.

    I do agree that the earlier books are better. I can’t picture Angelina in the role but that’s mostly because she’s the opposite of Kay’s description. It could work for those who haven’t read the books but fans would have a tougher time.

  45. KIKI says:

    Jennifer Aniston must have something to do with this whole mess.

  46. Solveig says:

    hells

    February 26th, 2010 at 7:09 am

    Angelina looks fabulous, her thinness reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. The same elegance and poise.

    ___

    Are you awared that this sounds quite blasphemous, aren’t you?
    Now, I go back wasting my life hating on Angelina. Instead, you can waste your life reading the posts of the (jellus) h8rs.

  47. michellllle says:

    Not liking the hair, very soap opera circa 1980. The clothes look like an attempt at elegance but instead look like she’s part of a budget wedding party, though there’s no denying Jolie has an extremely beautiful face.

    Still the Audrey Hepburn comparison is not just blasphemy it’s outright stupidity, AJ isn’t even worthy of such a comparison, hell she’s not fit to lick her boots.

  48. anneesezz says:

    Why does Angelina always look like a stuck up b_tch? Whether its on the red carpet on a movie set it’s always the same “I’m better than all of you” look.

  49. sandy says:

    she is simply beautiful, and a great actress.

  50. Elanenergy says:

    I can understand the Scarpeletta rage–the character is not physically at all like AJ. But that happens so frequently in book to film translations. It is a VERY SMART career move for AJ. The Wanted franchise was not good for her image. She cares about NOTHING but her image, so this franchise delivers up some intelligence that she has not achieved in film. Cornwall is probably hot for Jolie, and that’s why she’ll finally get her books made into movies. A match made in Heaven.

  51. mslewis says:

    Damn..I love Kay Scarpetta! I thought Cornwall decided never to sell off her books to Hollywood, that’s why I love them because I never had to see it butchered on screen.

    —————————————-

    You obviously did not read the article. Cornwell sold an earlier Scarpetta novel to Hollywood for $10,000 and then later sold rights to several of the books for $5M. Doesn’t sound to me like she never planned to go Hollywood!! Perhaps you have confused Patricia Cornwell with Sue Grafton, who has never sold and has said she will never sell her Kinsey Milhone novels to Hollywood. There have been many actresses who have wanted to play Kinsey. (I’m talking about Grafton’s alphabet novels, for those who don’t know what I’m talking about.)

    As long as Cornwell is happy with the casting of Angelina Jolie in the role of Scarpetta I don’t understand why peopls are upset.

  52. Jax says:

    You can say what you want about her personal life, which you actually know nothing about, since it’s just a bunch of lies strung together to sell tabloids, but Angelina is a good actress. Even in some of her bad movies she is riveting to watch, you simple cannot take your eyes off of that face.

    And I am so sick of people saying she uses heroine. She may have tried it in her experimental years but there is no way she uses drugs in the last ten years or she could not be an ambassador to ANYTHING. They test their people regularly. No way they are going to risk a scandal reflecting poorly on them.

    She’ll make a great Scarpetta.

  53. nnn says:

    #52

    Don’t even name scandals, that’s the least of their motivations. They need to check bloodcells thoroughly for illnesses, drugs, alcohol like for a professional sportsman.

    You have to be in top form for delicate missions where you may face death, put your team in danger and talk to presidents playing a game in bewteen UN policies and diplomatic US interests putting all together. You better be sober, knows your matter and be a good speaker.

    Jolie has tested drugs like most people in Hollywoid but she was never addicted to drugs, anyone of them, including alcohol or cigarettes. I believe she tried them more than using them on a regular basis because those who do don’t show up every day on a movie set decnetly and usually are those who at that age goes clubbing.

    As a UN amabssador she is among, if not the most healthy actress out there. her Health report, every details among which illnesses, vaccines, allergies, ect is screened and reported to the state department too everytime she is sent abroad for the UN in accordance of the US foreign policy who always green lit the mission, putting his own agents in it too.

  54. RiKKi F says:

    Well here goes my neighbourhood , all i need is this beautiful ladies help 1 time , yes that would be Angelina J. . I am having a plague or a really bad time with a regular down to earth girl , which i really really love but there is something missing & thats where you come in(Angelina) , i wont last for long ..hope you really read this stuff … Rikki F