Book reveals Angelina was drug-tested for ‘Tomb Raider’

Filmmakers had concerns about the then 24-year-old’s stability

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Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

To help shed her early reputation, Angelina Jolie agreed to be drug tested during production of 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, according to a new book.

The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday released an excerpt from an upcoming biography of the former studio head Sherry Lansing, Leading Lady. Lansing stepped down as Paramount Pictures chairman and chief executive in 2005.

When casting the then 24-year-old Jolie for Lara Croft, Lansing had concerns about Jolie’s stability. This was shortly before the actress wed Billy Bob Thornton.

Then-Paramount production president John Goldwyn said the studio had Jolie undergo random drug tests. Director Simon West recounts that Jolie, eager for the part and to prove herself, said she would do anything - including daily drug tests - to “prove that I’m worthy.”

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