NEW YORK — What do you do when the top forensic detective for a serial-murder case is a quadriplegic and needs a smart cop to be his eyes, ears and legs?
Call Angelina Jolie.
The actress was seen most recently in “Playing by Heart” and “Pushing Tin“; her work in cable films “George Wallace” and “Gia” won her two Golden Globes by the age of 24. Now she’s ready to make a name for herself in the mainstream by starring alongside Denzel Washington in “The Bone Collector,” a thriller directed by Phillip Noyce (“Clear and Present Danger“).
Jolie says she still can’t believe she was picked for the part, particularly with Washington‘s approval. “I know that they had shown him different things of mine and they had supported me … (that) he felt I was right meant so much to me, that he would work with me.” But she says her disbelief fit her character, Amelia Donaghy, because “she’s very in awe of him, so it was very similar to mine … She wanted to prove herself to him.”
Washington plays Lincoln Rhyme, a detective specializing in forensics who finds himself bedridden after a near-fatal injury on the scene. Amelia is a young policewoman whose discovery of a body on the eve of her transfer to a desk job lands her in the middle of the action.
Looking at the evidence and realizing that the crime may be the work of a serial murderer, Lincoln decides to take the case but asks Amelia to assist him. She investigates horrific crime scenes for evidence as he filters through clues, hoping to catch the killer before another murder occurs.
Washington settles into his hero role again, and says audiences are not likely to find his characters on the other side of the law.
“People are saying, ‘Why aren’t you playing heavies?’ I’m like, ‘I dunno, maybe that’s not what I’m here to do,’ you know. I’m here to catch the heavy, catch the bad guy. I wouldn’t mind playing a bad guy, [but] we live in a real violent society … and I’d like to think that I would lean toward doing something about that instead of just feeding the fire.”
His next heroic role will be in the biopic “The Hurricane,” playing 1960s boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter who was accused of a triple murder. It is set for release in December. Jolie‘s next role will be opposite Nicolas Cage in “Gone in 60 Seconds,” coming out sometime next year.
