Gia (1998): Angelina Jolie's Breakout Role?

[00:00:00] There was a time when an HBO movie could become the thing everybody was talking about. And in 1998 that movie was Gia. Equal parts fashion story, love story and a cautionary tale. It gave us Angelina Jolie's Breakout Role. Today we're diving into Gia.

[00:01:00] Welcome to the No More Late Fees podcast. I'm Jackie. And I'm Danielle. And we're just two best friends and ex-blockbuster employees rewatching some of the best and worst movies from the late 90s and early 2000s. And this week we are revisiting the 1998 TV movie Gia. But before we dive in, let's get into some housekeeping. If you love the podcast and you want to support us, here's how you can.

[00:01:28] Did you know that sharing your thoughts with a review, rating or comment can supercharge our podcast reach? If you're eager to help us skyrocket and be part of the excitement, hop over to Apple, Spotify or wherever you groove to podcasts and leave us a note. All right, Jackie. Well, Gia is about one of what they're considering the first supermodel of the 80s. Don't tell Janice Dickinson though. I know she gets Superman.

[00:01:53] But fresh off of a bus from Philadelphia with a leather jacket, a rebellious streak and enough confidence to stop an entire photo shoot. Gia Karangi arrives in New York determined to become a model. She's discovered by legendary agent Wilhelmina Cooper and launched into the fashion stratosphere. As her career skyrockets, she struggles with loneliness, addiction and the pressures of being the hottest face in fashion.

[00:02:21] Along the way, she finds love with makeup artist Linda, battles personal demons and discovers that fame can't fix a broken heart. The movie stars Angelina Jolie, Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruhl, Kylie Travis and Eric Michael Cole. The movie was directed by Michael Christopher and written by Michael Christopher and Jay McKearney.

[00:02:47] You can currently watch the movie on HBO Max. But before we start, let's get into our ratings rewind. So you know the drill. Before we get into the movie, we'll reveal the rating our Y2K versions of ourselves would give. Then at the end, we'll see if our current selves agree with our initial rating. Our scale consists of would buy it, would buy it again. The best would play and repeat. Five day rental. Would watch again. Two day rental.

[00:03:15] Eh, okay, but nothing to write home about. And same day rental. Trash! Straight up garbage. So Danielle, what was your Y2K rating of Gia? I remember watching it and thinking it was really good at the time. So, but I don't remember much. And when I re-watched it, I realized I don't remember shit.

[00:03:45] So, I'm gonna go two day rental because I like just didn't remember much. What about you? I had this on DVD. No one could tell me that. So we were an HBO family. Right. And Gia came out in 1998. I was 16. We're about to be 16. And it was like enough salacious material to like pique my interest. Like the nudity and the lesbian lovers.

[00:04:12] And then like the drug use and the illnesses and the model industry. Like baby Jackie was into it. Would buy for Y2K me. I do want to like as historians of the time. Yes. You know, people who didn't watch it in real time.

[00:04:35] An HBO movie at that time was just as big as like some of the number one movies at the box office. Yes. And this movie racked up on awards. And it really, really put Angelina Jolie's name on everyone's tongue. It wasn't her first movie. She had done a bunch of stuff before this. But this was like I think what led to – what's the movie she did with Winona Ryder?

[00:05:04] Girl Interrupted. Girl Interrupted. Like that put her on that trajectory for sure. Everyone thought she was the actress. Yes. After this movie. So this movie came out January 31st, 1998. And it had a $7.9 million budget. We know that this is a TV movie. So there is not a box office per se. I'm not sure what the viewership was at this time. But okay.

[00:05:34] So the film became one of HBO's most acclaimed original movies of the late 90s and helped establish HBO as a destination for prestige television films. I remember like because it was this. I think the Dorothy Dandridge movie with Halle Berry came out and it was like right. Angels in America was I think slightly later but another very big movie. Yes. Yes. That one was huge.

[00:06:02] So a lot of really good prestige TV at that time. The critics called the film quite watchable while highlighting Jolie's compelling presence in the lead role. That's from The Advocate. And FilmCredit.com gave the movie a middling review praising Jolie's commitment while finding the overall film less successful than its lead performance.

[00:06:30] So we can before we get into cast and crew. Let's hear a message from our pod pals. Hello kids of the 80s, 90s and beyond. Radical Ryan Hunter here from the Radical Retro Rewind podcast. Join me along with everyone's favorite brother David and the movie geek Rob every Friday as we discuss everything from movies, TV, video games, music, action figures and more.

[00:06:59] Every week's another adventure. We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most podcasting platforms. Hope to see you there radical ones. So cast and crew, Mila Kunis plays the teenage version of Gia Karangi in the film. The role was one of her earliest major screen appearances. And I think they did good.

[00:07:29] She looks like a younger Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie said about her character Gia when she's free and just being herself, she's unbelievable. That's the tragedy of her story. You thank God she didn't need drugs. She was a drug.

[00:07:45] And I think that's why Angelina playing this role was just so perfect because I think she embodied the essence of who Gia was or how people described like how contagious she was essentially. Like people wanted to be around her and almost to the detriment of herself because it's like the fashion industry kind of sucked her dry.

[00:08:13] Nobody was really prioritizing her physical and mental health. Right. Angelina Jolie also said that she originally rejected the role, admitting she knew it would really mess with me and drive me a bit nuts to be that open. And when she first began her research and saw a 2020 interview in which Gia had the adult speech of a junkie, Jolie hated her. But later after throwing herself deep into the role, she said, I'd like to date Gia.

[00:08:41] I'd want to be her lover. Sehr gut, sehr gut, sehr gut. Sehr gut? Wieso Steuer ist sehr gut? Das sagen ganz viele. Cool, wer sagt das? Stiftung Warentest, Computerbild, Focus Money, Chip, Finanztip, such dir was aus. Mega, aber das ist doch bestimmt kompliziert. Nö. Einfach Foto von der Lohnsteuerbescheinigung machen und fertig. Klingt sehr gut. Ist sehr gut. Hol dir dein Geld zurück mit Wieso Steuer.

[00:09:07] And you can briefly see Angelina Jolie's brother, James Haven, leaning up against the wall in the beginning of the film when she and TJ are going into the tattoo powerlure. So. All right. I will say a lot of trigger warnings. Yes. First and foremost. And this movie was very heavy. Yes. This is biographic. So it is based on the life of Gia.

[00:09:35] She passed away at age 26. And she dealt with a lot of mental health issues and drug abuse, which led to her contracting AIDS. So if any of that is triggering to you, go find a safer episode for you. But let's jump in.

[00:09:53] So this movie was rewatching and I was like, oh, this really doesn't have the meat and potatoes I want in a biography. Like we kind of just skimmed the surface of all of like the issues without really diving into what is or what are Gia's triggers? Who like were people trying to help her in this situation?

[00:10:24] You know. So it starts out and it's a recollection of family and friends who knew her and they did speak to her family and friends. And let me find. Like the vibe of the movie feels like part music video, part documentary. With a jazz overlay. Like I'm like, what is with the saxophone?

[00:10:49] You know how the saxophones are trending on TikTok right now? That's all this movie was. I was just like, what? And it made me wonder if like her mom is very much featured in the movie. And her dad and brothers are kind of there. But like you don't really get their perspective at all.

[00:11:16] And you hear a little bit from the dad towards the end. So I'm curious if maybe like her real life brothers and dad didn't give too much information. Because you see her going home a few times. But mainly to her mother and not to her dad. So I don't know if it's just speaking to that her mother was more of a trigger for stuff.

[00:11:43] And like you said, I didn't really remember much other than like the big fashion sets. And of course like her rolling around naked on a chain link fence and stuff. But as the movie started, like even the first scene where it's little baby Mila Kunis playing young Gia. And establishing her really strong relationship with her mom. And they're like, I do be the prettiest girl.

[00:12:11] It all came screaming back to me. I was like, wow, I did watch this movie a lot because I remember all of this. It's pretty, it's funny because now we have all these psychology terms into the everyday layman terms mixed together. So we have more language for some of the things that they're showcasing. Like her mom very early on you could tell is a narcissist probably.

[00:12:39] A little delusional. And living her life via her daughter. Yes, very vicariously through her daughter for sure. And so we learned pretty early on that Gia's mom, she wants to be hot in the streets. She wants to be out in the town. And her and her husband get in fights. Gia's watching her brother. His brother's not so much. And the next day you see Gia's mom leaves.

[00:13:08] And it's almost like she does not, she's not there for Gia later. I'm not sure what the relationship is if she just leaves because we see as she gets older, she's kind of stalking her mom, looking at her mom. And when she first sees her mom, it's like her mom doesn't recognize her at first, which is wild. Could you imagine? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:32] So we see, it quickly cuts to like little girl Gia to this rocker rebellion punk Gia working in like some sort of deli in Philadelphia. She befriends this man named TJ. And immediately confused. Yeah, because like there are conversations where Gia's like, I don't like dick. Right.

[00:14:02] Yet she's, she's flirting with and making out with TJ like the whole time. But then TJ is gay. So. Is he? I thought she just, she got, she got him and the other guy in the heat of the moment to make out. That's why I said, hey.

[00:14:26] I think, I think that scene was just alluding to like how effervescent she was is like people would just do whatever she wanted them to do. Well, you know, back then it was, we didn't understand the fluidity of things. Yeah. So now I'm like, oh, okay. But I, I, girl, you couldn't tell me that they were in a lavender marriage together. I didn't know. And we're not trying to yuck anyone's yum.

[00:14:56] We're just from the perspective of storytelling. It was very confusing. Yeah. Yeah. Like I wasn't, again, it was, it was a long music video. If you look at the context of this video, this movie from that viewpoint, I think helps a lot is a stylized. Just flashes of story. They, it's not even, I mean, it's linear in the sense that like time is progressing in a linear fashion. Yeah.

[00:15:25] But the scenes that are chosen are not cohesive in any manner. I, I do agree with the critics that the thing that saved the movie was the performances. Everybody was, you know, held their own. Yes. Like, I don't feel like I can find a weakest link, link per se. Her having a knife and being the baddest bitch. I believe it. Have y'all met somebody from Philly?

[00:15:56] Hello, Tim. Philadelphia, lovely town. I was just there in March, but you know, someone who's from Philly, like there is no doubt in your mind when you meet them that they are from Philly. Look, I was showing my British, my British cousins were here. And we were showing them how unhinged the Philadelphia fans are when I'm like, this is what they do when they win.

[00:16:24] And then I showed them a video of them tearing up the city when the Eagles won. And I said, and this is what they do when they lose. I showed a video of them tearing up the city. I said, and here's a video of the mayor when they won begging them, please. Greasing up streetlights. When we were in Philly, we stayed at the Ritz and Tim's like, see those awnings? Like the Ritz is a gorgeous old bank in downtown Philly. It's like, see the beautiful Ritz awnings?

[00:16:53] People were on top of them. I'm like, not the sanctity of historical structures. And let me just say, I won't be talking shit about people from Philadelphia. You know, I slander New Jersey all the time. There's certain parts I don't fuck with though. Trenton, I see you. But I will say as a New Yorker, I'm waiting with bated breath about the Knicks being in the finals right now.

[00:17:23] Because they said since the Knicks got into the playoffs, crime has been down. Because everybody watching the games. So we see Gia working in Philly. She is a form of Liberty Spikes. Not totally, but she's almost there. And she's just a rebellious free spirit is like probably the best way to put it. She gives no fucks.

[00:17:51] She has opinions and isn't afraid to share them. Like you said, she's got an edge. And a knife. And a lot of mommy issues. So like, it's funny because in a way she doesn't understand some people's response to her. Like, you know, her. She goes to she has a meeting with Wilhelmina.

[00:18:17] She goes to the agency when she gets to New York because her and oh boy moved to New York together. And they don't really even show that process of like how she meets Wilhelmina or whatever. But she gets there. She says she has an appointment. And the lady at the front is so rude to her about her having an appointment. And once she's waiting for her very first photo shoot, she's outside.

[00:18:45] And the other models put like nickels and dimes. I don't know. Change in her coffee because they think she looks like a homeless person. And so she just doesn't understand like this modeling world. But she's because she's very much like on the androgynous side. And like at that time, she was still kind of in her punk aesthetic. And like the modeling world was so polished. So like and we get a scene about it from Wilhelmina.

[00:19:15] Is it Wilhelmina? Or like at least her firm. And they're like boring, boring, boring. They're all blonde, blue, white, blonde. No, it's Vogue. That's later. Oh, Vogue. Okay. Yeah. Or they're like everything is just the fucking same as they're like scrolling through models. And then you get to Gia and it's like yes. Like this is what we need. We need something different. Something striking. Something that's going to take your breath away.

[00:19:42] I do love that scene where she walks into Wilhelmina's office and like the secretary is not giving her the time of day. And finally she just whips her knife out. It was like carves her name into the desk. It was like, do you think you can remember that? Right. And the secretary is like, I'm about to get stabbed. Let me go get Wilhelmina. 100%. And I like the relationship she has with Wilhelmina.

[00:20:09] It was the mother figure that she always craved for. It was her safe space. Wilhelmina understood her in a way that no one else really did. Yeah. So she would call her in the middle of the night, like her first shoot, she was very nervous. But I do think Wilhelmina could have been a little bit more protective.

[00:20:34] But I think there's like a balance too, because back then we weren't having these conversations about taking care of ourselves and work-life balance. You know, the 80s was excess and capitalism to the T. So no one really understood that like, I don't know, working endlessly. And she was young. She had to be what she was.

[00:21:00] I think she was 19 when she moved to New York. And also like, drugs were just accessible. Like no one batted an eye that she's like doing cocaine before a photo shoot or. Yeah, they were all doing it. And that's, and her, and you can see the gateway to the harder drugs. And that was all caused by the environment of the fashion industry.

[00:21:30] Like going from like Coke to a crack, to crack rock. To heroin. To the pipe, to heroin. You know, when it wasn't available to her. And, and it was just so easy and accessible. And I still think to this day, people are definitely riding the slopes. I'm seeing cocaine use a lot more with younger people than I ever thought.

[00:21:57] Like, I don't know when Coke became a thing again. I don't either. And like crack too. I'm like, the babies ain't learning. No. Anyway. So yeah, not only did Gia have like parental trauma from her mom. She almost definitely, at least based on what I see in this movie.

[00:22:23] She had some sort of mental health issues that were never explored, which also, if you don't get treatment for that, most often you are going to self-medicate in some way. Yeah. A hundred percent. And then the drugs make you even more erratic than just having a mental health issue. So it's just like, unfortunately, a cyclical thing with Gia where she'll be good and she'll be charming and she'll be herself.

[00:22:53] And then she spirals down into that drug and mental health decline and then isolate people and alienate people. And then, but then when she's good again, she's so charming and so charismatic that she sucks you back in. Right. Well, her character, like you said, was like probably 1920 because they said Angelina Jolie was 22 years old when this movie premiered.

[00:23:19] So making her only a few years older than Gia was during much of the period depicting in the film, depicted in the film. So she was very young and usually with like bipolar or even schizophrenia, the onset usually starts. You start to see signs at 18 at least. So. And I will say. Angelina Jolie as an actor is just fabulous.

[00:23:47] Like, I don't think I can think of a role no matter how small, like going into Hackers, one of her first films, like she embodies whatever character she's playing. And like, she is so believable. I just, I really enjoy her as an actor. I do too. The only miss for me is when she was cosplaying a brown Muslim lady that one time. And I was like, what are we doing, Angelina?

[00:24:17] Why are you doing that? That was the only time I like, I legit gave her side eye because I was like, this is weird. Yeah. But yeah, she's great. Where are we now? So we start to see she's starting to book photo shoots immediately. Photographers are captivated by her. That shoot with the chain link fence. This is like one of her big, bigger shoots. It starts off as it looked like a catalog magazine.

[00:24:45] When she rolls up into the club, when she rolls up in there, this is when she first meets the love of her life, who is a make Linda, the makeup artist played by Elizabeth Mitchell. And as much as we love Lost, I totally forgot she was in this movie. Scene. Yeah. And so, yeah, she has the regular photo shoot. And then the whole time the photographer is saying word vomit nonsense, right? Yeah.

[00:25:14] And then he's like, who wants to get creative? And the creative thing is nakedness. Yeah. Boy, bye. Yeah. And Gia's like, sure. Let's do this. As long as Linda stays. And Linda's like, okay. I'm like, Linda, girl. And I love the dichotomy of the costuming between Gia and Linda because Gia is just wear what she wants to wear.

[00:25:39] A lot of times, like no bra tank tops, just very, very Gia. And then Linda is so buttoned up in like pantsuits and chinos and like vests. And I'm like, they cannot look more different, but like Linda, there's something about Gia and Linda who is in a committed relationship with a man. Yeah. But she's still sleeping with Gia on the side.

[00:26:10] Well, I don't know. I think because like it was just so looked down upon about being gay and a lesbian that I think a lot of people, especially white, white women were taught that they could have like when they go to college, they can have like a lesbian experience.

[00:26:39] But at the end of the day, you still got to go marry that man. Yeah. And I'm taking that from just like seeing it so much portrayed in movies when we were growing up in that way. I just feel like for a lot of people, just they suppress and hid. And so, yeah, she was like, okay, I'm going to have this boyfriend. I don't know what this is with Gia, but I can't stay away from her.

[00:27:03] So much so that her boyfriend is like, she kept sending, Gia kept sending her red, yellow roses. The yellow roses is fucking wild. And you know what? I had a realization because for a while I had like convinced myself that I loved yellow roses. Okay. Well, and it was probably from like 16 to like 20. And I think it was from this movie.

[00:27:32] I don't know why. But doesn't yellow roses symbolize friendship? Yes. But I don't think Gia was looking into the symbolism of roses. I don't think so either. So yeah, her and Linda go back to her place after the erotic chain link fence photo. Girl, I don't know. There's lots of flinging and spinning. She does a lot of spinning in this movie. She really does.

[00:28:00] And it was like, because you know, we come from the world of America's next top model. And none of those poses would be acceptable. Like she was like hunched over her face. Wasn't like even towards the camera as she's like spinning. And I'm like, what is happening right now? I don't think the photographer even had film in his camera. He didn't. He just loved to see naked ladies. Yes.

[00:28:27] But Gia took Linda home and they made love. And the next morning, Linda's like, I gotta go about my life. And this is where we're seeing again, Gia having that separation anxiety of being left. Abandonment issues. Yeah. It was just like a very, it's a neediness. Like she constantly wanted to have the, you know, somebody with her. Yes. And Linda's like, I gotta go.

[00:28:55] Gia is full out naked. There's an elevator coming. People are seeing. She don't care. But she's really sad that Linda leaves. In the interim, as she's going through her model career, she's got Wilhelmina. But her mom starts to make a presence and come and visit her. And you can see Gia's looking for her mother's approval. You know. I was so angry on behalf of Gia when her mom comes to the city and she's like, this is my

[00:29:25] apartment, blah, blah, blah. Like I haven't had a chance to like really move in or make it home. And her mom is like, like, do you know how expensive an apartment in New York City is? Like that is a nice size apartment. Look, she has a full size stove. Like you don't get that very often in New York City. Like I was so mad for Gia because it was just like all she wanted was her mom to be like, yeah, I'm proud of you.

[00:29:55] Like you did good kid. And right. All she got was criticism. I don't like honestly, that was the only scene where I felt like her mom did criticize her. But the rest of the scenes you could tell her mom only cared about the prestige and like being able to show off essentially. But at least she was coming. Like she would stay a week or two weeks.

[00:30:23] And she's like, Gia would tell me everything about the matter. Like so she was, it was less about Gia and more about the lifestyle, I think. Yes. Of everything. And we do have a scene where, you know, Gia's mom is remarried and she's like, I gotta go home. And like instead of having a conversation about why is my daughter who, she's like, you have to be a big girl. You're a big girl. Like what are you doing?

[00:30:53] But why, why is my daughter reacting this way? There's no curiosity to it. And Gia like kicks her out, you know, if you're going to leave, fine. And there are inserts from when she's being interviewed, the mom's being interviewed. And she talks about like how Gia never focused on the past. They never talked about the past. So she's like saying that everything was okay. And she liked that.

[00:31:17] She liked that they could just move past, obviously, the abandonment that she did. And so a lot of her interviews or her talking during the movie is showing like just how self-involved she is. And lacks accountability. Yeah. And Gia doesn't really confront her about her relationship with her mom until she goes to rehab, I think the second time. Yeah.

[00:31:47] And she goes to stay with her for a while. Well, she, the mom talks about how when Gia was in rehab, how they called her to like come and Gia was talking about her issues with her mom. And she was just kind of annoyed that why they're bringing up bullshit, you know? So that her mom was something to behold for sure.

[00:32:14] And we see Gia increase her drug use as she's getting more and more notoriety as being a supermodel. So probably long shoots, no time off and like got to keep perky somehow. But towards the beginning, it seems to be fairly manageable. Like she's just doing it like as a quick pick me up before a photo shoot or something like that. Yeah.

[00:32:40] Where she really starts to spiral is the death of Wilhelmina. So we find out Wilhelmina has lung cancer. She's in the hospital and ends up passing away. And this is where Gia just spirals because her only safe space is now gone. Right. So before Wilhelmina even passes away, what ends up happening is that we're watching how the modeling agency was working when people were booking.

[00:33:10] And so Gia was booked out like the girl barely had any time to breathe. Like they were booking her and booking her. And she said that maybe she needs a break. She alluded to that. And Wilhelmina at the time was like, no, no, don't. Not now. So you see Wilhelmina really didn't have her best interests at heart. And then while she's visiting Wilhelmina in the hospital before she does pass,

[00:33:38] you see this other agent guy trying to like pick at her the carcass before it's even dead about trying to get her to switch from Wilhelmina. And he's just like, why would I leave to, you know, but Wilhelmina does die. And her husband, it looks like takes over. And then the care that was even slightly there is removed. And like you said, Gia starts to progressively take more drugs.

[00:34:07] And her first attempt at rehab or like slowing down is when she does switch to this new agent. He tells her to have like an interview. But I think it's 2020. And they interview her family. And she has to say that she was taking drugs and she's not anymore. I'm not sure she actually goes to rehab. But like this is where she has to say that she's not doing drugs.

[00:34:35] And it seemed like everyone believes she's been clean at least for a little while. Because that was like kind of the stipulation of going under this new management. But we see right before the interview, Linda catches her in the bathroom. Yeah. Snorting cocaine.

[00:34:55] And then I think this is the interview that Angelina Jolie alludes to where it's just how erratic Gia is talking. And it's just kind of talking in circles and not really making any sense. It's like, oh, she's obviously not clean. Like she maintains. At one point, Elizabeth says that, you know, you need to get clean. Like she's showing up at Linda's house. She sees Linda's boyfriend is there.

[00:35:26] She sees that the boyfriend is there. And he's like, I don't know what's going on. He's your friend. And then they start making out with each other. And he's like, whoa, what the hell going on? And the way that she like Gia just pushes past him like she would beat him up if she could. Or if she wanted to. She probably could. And from there on, like we eventually see Linda breaks up with the boyfriend. And she's fully in with Gia.

[00:35:56] They actually go to Gia. Gia comes to pick her up one day. And she's like, get in my brand new car. Because like you said, there was the head of Vogue was trying to find a new face. They found Gia. They put her on the cover of Vogue. And so now there she gets a car. She's got money. She picks up Linda. And she's like, where are we going? Philadelphia. And she's like, what? Kidnapped. Without consent.

[00:36:24] She goes to her mother's house. And they're flirty with each other. She tells, she introduces her mother. This is my girlfriend. Her mom is not, it's not clicking. Well, because her mom is still like, have you met a man yet? And Gia's like, this is my girlfriend, mom. She's like, oh, it's nice to have friends. She's not, it's not clicking. Eventually she, she gets on board. But like at first she's just like, what do you mean? Yeah.

[00:36:51] And Linda is having to deal with Gia's erratic behavior. Yes. The attempt at rehab. That she goes to rehab. She, I get confused with the two times that she goes. But the first time she has Linda's support. Linda says, if you, we can be together, but you have to go to rehab. So that's when she, she decides to go. And she's, she's on methadone.

[00:37:19] It seems like she's doing well for a while. Yes. And when she does this, she was still at Wilhelmina's agency with the husband running it. And when she goes to rehab, they get really pissed with her. So she doesn't have the agency anymore. Yeah. When she gets out, she's tempted to do the drugs again. Yeah. After, like you said, months of her being clean. And then she thinks, okay, I got to get back to work.

[00:37:47] So that's when she goes back to the other agent and does the 2020 special and whatnot. And Linda's like, I can't be rolling with this. At one point she gives her an ultimatum. She's like, it's either me or the drugs. Could you imagine you're with someone? First and foremost, the knowledge we have now, we know that that's not even something that you can really, when someone has an addiction. Put upon them. Yeah. It's not, it's not like that psychologically for them.

[00:38:17] They can't even help it at that point. Well, at this point, because Gia is a full-blown addict. Yeah. She literally can't stop or go, like she needs some sort of medical intervention to wean her off of the drugs. Yeah.

[00:38:37] The scenes where they show her, you know, the scene where they show her just in the rehab and like going to withdrawal was just like really rough to watch. Yeah. Even in just small clips. But after that scene, Gia and Linda are done. Mm-hmm. And the reason that it gets like this is because she steals from her mom. She has run in with the law.

[00:39:05] Uh, Linda has to get her out of jail. Like it's just no good. And that's all, like Gia is doing well staying at her mom's the second time she goes to rehab. But she calls Linda and the boyfriend answers. And that's when Gia spirals again and steals all the money, goes and gets drugs, steals mom's car. That was the first rehab. Was that the first rehab?

[00:39:33] It was because she was like, I literally, he was coming to get the stuff. I was coming back to your mom's because Linda had been going back and forth to the house. So that was the first rehab. The second rehab that she does, she's, her mom is supporting her. Uh, but she has to call Linda. She's making amends with everybody. But in the midst of like her still being on the drugs, the guy from the beginning, he comes to check on her. Mm-hmm.

[00:40:02] And she slices his hand and this is who he takes her to rehab. And at this point, she has no more money. She's really not in a good place. She physically doesn't even look well. And the state lets her go to rehab. Mm-hmm. And that's when she reaches out to Linda to make amends. And at some point, she realizes again.

[00:40:28] But the story goes in real life that she wanted to overdose. She wanted to kill herself at this point. And she goes to try to find some drugs and runs into a situation where she's, I feel like they allude to that she was raped. But this guy beats her really badly. Before that, I think, is when she's introduced to intravenous drugs. Right.

[00:40:58] Yeah. Because she's at the photo shoot and she's starting to get dope sick. Yeah. And she tries to send someone to go buy drugs for her. And the lady is just like, oh, you're on that stuff? You look great. I love to see the white in your eyes. Like, it's crazy what happens. And she's like, oh, you're riding the dragon? I'm like, what is happening here? Like, why is this so normalized? I hate it. Everybody was doing cocaine, though. Yeah.

[00:41:28] But the lady's taking too long. And the photo shoot is like a geisha shoot, which questionable to begin with. But then it's like, there's a part where she's like on the back of this motorcycle. And they've told her like, this is a couture gown. Like, you can't, can't do anything to it. Like, it is so expensive. Blah, blah, blah. Geisha doesn't care. She just wants her fix. And so she's on the back of the motorcycle taking pictures.

[00:41:56] And then all of a sudden, somehow she convinces motorcycle man to just drive her to the other side of town so she can get her fix. And that's when she's introduced to intravenous by some random man. And this is the 80s, so this is the, like, they, I don't even think when she was doing the drugs, she, they like, even knew what AIDS was at the time. No.

[00:42:23] But by the end, when she is, now she's off the drugs, you see her kind of deteriorating. She probably already has AIDS, even though she is off the drugs. So it's like when she goes to make amends, it's almost like she's saying goodbye. Because she, she gives Linda all of her journals and diaries. She says, you were always the one, like, which I feel like Linda should have been like, this feels kind of final. But it wasn't definitely clicking for her.

[00:42:53] And that's when the whole situation is. So they take her to the hospital. And so they don't say it in the movie, but there's signs that, like, the way that they were treating it, like, it was. An infectious disease. Right. They didn't know. So they had her kind of in isolation. Everyone's in, like, hazmat suits. Yes. Really, the only one that's not is her mom. Her mom and then her dad and her brothers, they're not either.

[00:43:23] So you see her deteriorating her, you know, body, the scabs. Like, she gets, in real life, she got pneumonia, like most people did at the time when they transitioned from HIV to AIDS. And then she passes away. So you kind of see her in her old, like, one of her older shoots, like, in white.

[00:43:52] She looks, you know, like she's going to go to heaven as a supermodel. But it's quite sad. It really, truly, truly sad. She ended up dying at age 26 from AIDS-related complications. And then the end scene in the credits, most of the photographs that are displayed are images of the real Gia rather than recreation of the production stills. So playing homage to her.

[00:44:20] There are quotes that are taken out of her journals that are sprinkled throughout the film as well. What's really sad is at the time of her death in real life, nobody from the fashion world came to her funeral. That's awful. Yeah. And sadly, that is Gia. Let's see if we have any other facts left.

[00:44:48] Several scenes were filmed in locations intended to recreate the fashion industry environment of the late 70s and early 1980s New York. During production, Angelina Jolie reportedly connected strongly with Gia's story and kept several personal items associated with the character after filming. And Angelina found the intensity of playing a drug-addicted lesbian so extreme that she deliberately sought out a normal heterosexual role for her next film.

[00:45:17] That proved to be Mike Newell's Pushing 10, which, funny enough, was her finding Billy Bob Thornton and marrying him. And I think Angelina Jolie also was a great person for this role because she is a bisexual woman. I think that she added some truth to the character. Like, it almost...

[00:45:45] And I could understand why she didn't want to... She was nervous about playing the role because it was so intense. And I think she really does dive into these characters. And it's hard to, like, pull them apart. Yeah. I think she saw a lot of herself in Gia. And so, like, that separation of, like, where does Gia end in Angelina begins could be blurred. Yeah. I totally see that.

[00:46:08] Films, costume, and makeup departments work to recreate many of Gia's real-life photo shoots and modeling looks based on archival photographs. Let's talk about the awards. The movie remains one of HBO's most awarded original biographical films. Angelina Jolie won Best Actress at the Golden Globes that year. Faye Dunway won Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes.

[00:46:32] Angelina Jolie won for Outstanding Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries at the Screen Actors Guild. Outstanding Directorial Achievement at the Directors Guild of America Award went to Michael Christopher. And then Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing from the Primetime Emmy Awards. It also had multiple other nominations as well. So highly regarded for its acting, screenplay, and directing.

[00:47:00] And then this leads into Angelina's next big role, which was Girl Interrupted. And for that, she won the Oscar. Yeah, the next year, which is... It's crazy that they filmed this in two months. Like, what? The nuts. Well, before we get into our today rating, our ratings rewind, don't forget to hit us up at NoMoreNatePees on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Threads. Do you remember Gia?

[00:47:30] Were you watching it live like us? Have you never heard of this? Let us know. All right, Jackie, what is your present day rating? Like I said, I just wanted to dive in more to the situations and her mental health and her... Like, even her relationships with, like, her mom and Wilhelmina and Linda felt kind of surface. Yeah. So I wish it kind of dug a little bit deeper. I'll probably go two-day rental.

[00:47:59] It's not something that I feel like resonates as much with me anymore. Like, I respect the story being told, but it's not something I'm going to go back to, probably. Yeah. I think it would have been nice if they kind of told us, like, you know, like, we didn't see how she was discovered. We didn't hear how she first realized that she had AIDS and what that was like.

[00:48:29] And everything was kind of, like, very glossed over on some of, you know, the big moments, I guess you could say. And Angelina did carry this film on her back. Yeah. I'm going to stay with the two-day rental. You know, I do think the story is still important, but maybe if they redid it, I would be interested to see. Yeah.

[00:48:55] And hit us up at our quick drop if you have any comments about Gia or any of the other movies that we've done. You can call or text into 909-601-6653 and you can be featured on a future episode. And we are ending Pride Month next week with the Broken Hearts Club. And as always, be kind and rewind.