Is Angelina Jolie Too Thin in Her 'Salt' Action Scenes?

By John Mitchell Posted Jul 30th 2010 05:13PM

Angelina Jolie kicks butt. Literally. Perhaps more than any other actress, Jolie exudes a kind of physicality that is primal and integral to who she is. While digital effects and camera tricks can turn just about any performer into a breathing action figure, we imagine that Jolie probably could handle herself in a real-life fight. There's something dangerous about her; its part of why we love her.

Once again, her brawling skills are front and center – this time in 'Salt,' a physical endurance test of a film that has Jolie jumping out of helicopters, bounding down city streets, scaling buildings and leaping from semi to semi in a chase scene for the ages. But sitting in the audience this time around, watching her do what she does best, I couldn't shake the thought that the actress looked uncommonly frail. How did she kick that guy off his motorcycle when it looks like she'd have trouble carrying Knox and Viv at the same time?

PopEater spoke with New York City-based personal trainer Kenville John of Hanson Fitness about the risks Jolie faced by taking on the action-packed film in such a seemingly fragile state.

According to her longtime stunt coordinator Simon Crane, Jolie performs nearly all of her own stunts and only under studio duress does she agree to use a stand-in. To prepare for the grueling fight sequences in 'Salt,' "We got her learning a combination of Muay Thai and Krav Maga," Crane told US magazine. Jolie reportedly trained for two hours a day three or four times a week to prepare for the film.

Krav Maga is a hand-to-hand combat system taught to elite special forces around the world. Developed in Israel, it is notable for it brutality, with a heavy focus on wrestling, grappling and striking. Muay Thai, meanwhile, is a kickboxing-based martial art that originated in Thailand. It is sometimes known as the "Art of Eight Limbs" or the "Science Of Eight Limbs" because it focuses on punches, kicks and elbow and knee strikes.

But John sees no evidence of her exhausting workout regimen and isn't sure she'd even be able to perform the tasks if she tried. "This is a body that's breaking down," he says. "This has gone too far. I just don't think she possesses the physical strength to perform like that."

Was Angelina's ability to perform her stunts in 'Salt' compromised by her dwindling physique – and compensated for with the odd bit of movie magic? And where exactly did those 'Tomb Raider' and 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' muscles go?

Suspension of disbelief suspended, it's all I could think about while watching the film, a non-stop, breathlessly paced spy thriller. How could she possibly climb down an elevator shaft when her arms look like they're about to snap in two? And I know I wasn't alone in noticing the disconnect. Discussing an on-foot chase scene through the streets of Washington, D.C. with a good friend, he simply said, "Listen, she looked like she was going to break in half. I haven't seen the inside of a gym since high school and I could have caught her."

John believes Jolie to be "about 20 percent underweight," and suggests any film director – in the case of 'Salt,' Phillip Noyce – would "have to be out of his mind" to use her in an extreme action sequence because her physical condition could leave her vulnerable to injury.

Indeed, John worries Jolie may have put herself in very real danger by attempting the demanding stunts when she wasn't in an appropriate physical condition to do so. "For you to sustain something, a leap, a fall, the muscle has to be there to sustain the impact," he says. "Joints have to bend a certain way, and what supports joints? Muscle. Without it, joints would just crash into each other. It could be catastrophic – ligament tearing, broken bones, the worst."

Jolie's rail-thin frame has been the subject of media scrutiny since as early as 2007. In January of that year, she lost her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, to ovarian cancer. Jolie and her mother were very close, and she took the loss particularly hard.

At the New York premiere of her film 'A Mighty Heart' that year, Jolie told US, "I've always been lean and this year I lost my mom and I've gone through a lot ... Instead of people saying I look like a person dealing with something emotionally, they assume it's because I want to fit into skinny jeans."

The criticisms have surfaced again and again since, but now, with her once legendarily buff bod blown up on the big screen, laying the bad guys to waste, it's difficult to not again wonder if she is indeed too thin to fight. It may be flawed, but 'Salt' is, as New York magazine best puts it, "a senseless blast," and Angelina Jolie is the reason why.

All of the fast-paced fun may well have seemed more sensible if the film's leading lady didn't look like she was buckling under the weight of the fire extinguisher she fashioned into a grenade launcher.

Tags: angelina jolie

Comments

(87)

Friday 30 July

By mw

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Yes, she is too thin, she looked best when she was pregnant.

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aping from semi to semi in a chase scene for the ages. But sitting in the audience this time around, watching her do what she does best

Sunday 01 August

By Superkirstin

So funny, my bf & i just saw SALT last night and the first thing he said to me before we left was how she looked to weak in her frame to make any of the fight scenes believable. I am a big AJ fan and loooove her but yeah, when i saw her in this movie i have to admit....i didn't think she looked so good and I'm a long lean thing myself. She just didn't look strong, this was the first action movie where our I've seen her in where she looked like a seriously frail hero. Kinda bummed me out :( but i do still like her. I see this more of a failure on the part of the studio b/c obviously no one had the balls to say to her "Look...you really need to put some muscle on to make this work." They do this to male actors all the time (Christian Bail in batman, hello).

By patty

why the fascination with jolie? do you honestly believe she did her own stunts? give me a break ~ she's way too thin to be able to do them.

By Howard

"we imagine that Jolie probably could handle herself in a real-life fight. There's something dangerous about her; its part of why we love her." Give me an Fing break. Yeah right. What are you talking about? She couldnt fight her way out of a cardboard box! Man you people always give actors way to much credit. They do makebelieve. Sly Stallone is not really a green bret and Jolie is a skinny skank, homewrecker!!

By mikeut36

She's really good looking when done up like a mature woman and smiling.........when not smiling and body shot...kinda skanky.

By Tex

More than likely, the little lady picked up a parasitic worm or two on her travels in Africa or Asia. If you don't eat enough for yourself and a whole colony inside you, you begin to waste away. What she needs is a good wormer.

By Adele

I see the previews for "Salt", and everytime I see her from below leaping over a banister, I wonder, "Where are her thighs?"
That woman is skinny, skinny. Beautiful, but skinny. She needs to take care of herself, if not FOR herself, for her kids.

By Cutie

.in this time in America a woman can never be too thin. Men don't like fat women, never liked fat women and anyone who thinks they do is only fooling themselves. When you are not around its the thin women who get the attention.

By SCLove1

To Cutie:

Why do you think that "fat" women have to not be around for thin women to get attention? I ask because I am by no means fat, but do not look like a stick-figure either, but if the only kind around is your kind of course you will get attention. It's like saying "I only drink soda" because it's the only beverage available. BTW, I see plenty of women folks would consider to be fat dating regularly or married for them to be so undesirable.

By berg1928

You must be skinny! You may want to believe that men prefer kinny, but actually, men prefer curvy!

By Laura

Oh, cutie.. get your head out of your rear. I've put on 80 pounds since I got married roughly 10 years ago; my husband STILL thinks he's got a SMOKIN' HOT WIFE, and he's right. Your personality will ALWAYS speak more than your figure with people WHO MATTER. I hope you can grow up sometime soon.

By leon

Laura,
5 foot 3 and 188 lbs is still to heavy for me.

By Tracy

laura -

YOU shud get your head outta YOUR rear. Your husband may not tell you that your 80 lb weight gain is gross and turning him off, but I'm sure he thinks it. Smokin Hot wives dont get married and then get fat. They eat healthy and take care of their bodies all through the marriage. What a dirty trick you played on your man and obviously yourself .... you actually delude yourself into thinking that you still look "smokin hot" with 80 extra pounds. That is really pathetic. I feel sorry for your husband. With that attitude, I'm sure you'll continue to gain weight. I hope your husband can continue to keep the act up until he leaves you for someone who actually cares about him and themselves

By Beverly

My guy cannot stand the skinny ones. And no guy I know of like them that skinny. They just want curveds, not fat. Curves, Anglie and her ilk do not have.

By dave

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You got to be joking,,, How did all these heavy women get pregnant? Thin is like looking at my little girl,, kids. Theres sick thin,, boney,,cheerleader,, mature and heavy,, then fat. Shes a sick thin,,, no man wants that.

By Sara

Your soap box is buckling under the weight of your arrogance. If you don't think so, you are just deluding yourself.

... Get my drift?

By Jeannie

We're not asking Angelina to be obese. With the exciting, busy life she has, it must be tough for her to keep weight on with the stress & lack of time to eat.

Tuesday 10 August

By Christian

@tracy and @ cutie
You two are pretty harsh on the fat woman. Maybe her man does like it...just sayin. I see a lot of fat, happy, married people. I also see alot of skinny single people. That's a cruel twist, isn't it?

By Lou

Jolie is way to thin. You can see the veins in her hands popping out. I think she's beautiful but I consider her a homewrecker and a mental case Brad Pitt is just a guilty.

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