Martin Scorsese is one of those legendary filmmakers with whom anyone would be lucky to work with. However, even then, there were some exceptional people who got the offer to work with him but ended up turning it down. Among these is the stunning beauty of Hollywood, Angelina Jolie.
Even though Jolie was offered the 2004 masterpiece, The Aviator, the actress ended up turning it down for a very valid reason: because the film was being produced by Miramax Films, the production company co-owned by Harvey Weinstein.
Angelina Jolie Rejected The Aviator Because Of Harvey Weinstein
Among all the big names who have starred in the drama/gangster The Aviator, like Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, and Kate Beckinsale, fans had the chance to see Angelina Jolie in it as well. However, the actress turned down the film, with the reason behind it being the involvement of Harvey Weinstein.
As shared by her during an interview with The Guardian:
“I was asked to do The Aviator, but I said no because [Harvey Weinstein] was involved.”
The Maleficent actress then shared that she had once previously worked with the infamous s-xual predator on the Miramax film Playing By Heart when she was 21, and was faced with a harrowing personal experience in a hotel room that was a violation of her rights.
“If you get yourself out of the room, you think he attempted but didn’t, right?” Jolie said. “The truth is that the attempt and the experience of the attempt is an assault.”
Not jumping into the details of the encounter, Jolie continued to share how she avoided working in anything related to him after that and even warned others about the same.
“I really don’t want to derail the book into stories about Harvey. [But that was an abuse of rights.] It was. It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him… ‘Don’t let girls go alone with him.’”
Yet, while Angelina Jolie was extra careful about things related to Harvey Weinstein from then onward even if it meant blockbuster films, one of her ex-husbands didn’t quite share the same thoughts as her.
Angelina Jolie Felt Hurt When Brad Pitt Worked With Harvey Weinstein
During the same interview, Angelina Jolie also shared how her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller, was incredibly supportive of her and helped her with her mission to warn the people around them about Harvey Weinstein.
“I remember telling Jonny [Lee Miller], my first husband, who was great about it, to spread the word to other guys.”
However, that wasn’t the case with her most recent husband (now ex-husband), Brad Pitt, who continued to work with the convicted r-pist.
“It was hard for me when Brad [Pitt] did… We fought about it. Of course, it hurt.”
It’s worth noting that Pitt not only worked on Inglourious Basterds, which was co-produced by Harvey Weinstein‘s company in 2009 but also even approached Weinstein in 2012 to work as a producer of his noir thriller, Killing Them Softly, which was also distributed by the Weinstein Company later on.
While it must have already been hard for Angelina Jolie, who was even willing to give up a masterpiece like Martin Scorsese‘s The Aviator just because it was associated with Weinstein, to see her husband look forward to working with the producer must have further added salt to her already hurting wounds.
