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)

Sunday 01 August

By ajschrod

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It's true--she could use 10 bs. of non-descript meat to make her LOOK stronger. Too many times Hollywood has used "wrong"-looking actresses for certain roles. and Angie could look a lttle better. Men too--consider Ralph Maggio in "The Karate Kid". Even though the story line was supposed to downgrade brawn, he was simply too skinny!

By Jay

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Well, that's how white men like their women, THIN! To them having a butt or thick thighs is consider "disgusting". So as long as white men tell their women "hunny you look great!" they'll just keep getting thinner!

By jaba

What's with her characterization all of the time in these "action packed" type of films? First of all, it's unbelievable. Secondly, it reminds me of Jane Fonda always playing the angry chick! Talk about type casting!

By Tara

I bet she will be the next celeb death. She is just way too thin.
I wish people would stop drooling over her. She's no Grace Kelly or Liz Taylor. Thin=gross. Men who really DO love thin women actually have gay tendencies since thin women have no hips.

It's in all the psych books go read it for yourselves.

By Jeannie

Not all of them are gay - entitled to only the best life has to offer is more like it. And that's not always a good thing, either.

By debbie

Yes, Angelina Jolie looks to thin to me. Put a picture of her from Tomb Raider next to one from Salt and you can see how thin she really has gotten. She needs to eat more ice cream and candyt with the kids, lol. More red meat Angelina, it is good for you!!!

By Barbara

Her weight or ability to do the fight scenes didn't even occur to me while watching the movie. She looked convincing, skinny or not. She does action movies well and I thoroughly enjoyed Salt. I'm sure she knows her limits and so do the producers and directors. If we were chasing 6 kids under the age of 9, we'd all probably be skinny. I was the skinniest I've ever been in life when I had one toddler, much less 6.

By DEBBIE

honey I fought the weight battle most of my 55 years. Let me tell you a secret. Everyone has a NATURAL weight that their body goes too. Some are thin types, some are Rubenesk (aka, for all you uneducated types, VOLUMTUOUS, CURVY, PLUMP). I am not saying some are seriously overweight, but if you eat right, get exercise (and I ain't talking running a marathon or the iron man), your weight should stabilized at its NATURAL size. I gave up trying to loose weight and guess what, I lost weight. I bake and fry and all those things the DIET Doctors tell you don't do...and I have problems with moving so don't get a lot of exercise! I have gone from 198 to 164 in under a year and have stabalized at that size. Listen to your body, be proud you are a curvy girl, cuz truth is, men do like them curves... otherwise they would be looking at men not WOMEN.

By billirose30

Worry about your own waistline butthead.

Monday 02 August

By Pat

NEVER cared for Jolie at all, Never did and still don't.

By Marcie

Angelina Jolie does look shockingly thin, like someone who is either starving or has an eating disorder. It says quite a bit about Hollywood that the most highly prized and highest paid actress in America is looking like she is on the verge of collapse. These women-hating studio execs want a woman who is just about to disappear, that looks right to them. A healthy woman with curves and some muscle and a little fat on their bones, even a size 4 or 6, is considered "obese". It's sick.

By The One

Shes has never been good looking to me. Skeleton wrapped in skin is not sexy. And to the woman who packed on 80 lbs. in ten years since her marriage. Sorry but you aren't smoking hot, that's sweat from being so bloated. I'm sure he says nothing so he doesn't have to hear your gums bumping.

By dmhunt57@aol.com

angie is still beautiful inside & out. she has a generous heart. She is a good woman.

By neil unruh

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are you all jealous of Jolie's weight..?? Shes awesome...i hate fat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By luvalternative

Neil, you must be a white male, because black men like a little meat. No wonder anorexia strikes white women more than black because they are belittled by their body types by men like you.

By Linda

What a mean thing to say that putting on 80 pounds is bad trick to pull. There are way more FAT MEN out there than ever. So please step back on the weight issue.

Angie needs to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches so she can substain a healthy weight. She obviously is very active and may forget to eat, which can happen.

As we all stand back and say how fat or thin a person is, maybe we should worry about other problems like 2012....Much more pressing then Angies Dress Size. WHO THE F CARES?????? Better get out your game plan for that year cuz Angie won't save you.

By DJ

Oh, just leave her alone already!!!

By Maggie

Maybe a Brad influence. If you remember the vows he took with Jennifer Anniston, part of hers were to keep off that extra 5 lbs.

By nvraine

I don't "love her".
She is too wierd for me.

By JANE GRAY

SHE PROBABLY HAS AIDS,,,,,she has gone to the countries where it is so previlant, or all her twists with men MEN, without protection perhaps,,,, she looks skelital, and am not impressed with her, she is a cheat, suductress and a fake.
I think she should retire and go to some foriegn land for treatments for the rest of her years,stay there with her adulteror hubby and litter of store bought kids,,, Pitt probably has aids too.

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