Angelina Jolie Almost Rejected ‘Gia’ – Here’s What Scared Her About the Role

Before Gia became one of Angelina Jolie’s most defining roles, it was almost the one she walked away from. The 1998 HBO film, which chronicles the meteoric rise and tragic fall of supermodel Gia Carangi, demanded an emotional rawness that hit uncomfortably close to home for Jolie. Her initial instinct was to turn it down — not because she doubted the material, but because she feared where it might take her.

In interviews, Jolie has revealed that her hesitation stemmed from deeply personal reasons. Like Carangi, she had struggled with drug use and mental health challenges during her younger years. Speaking to Variety, she confessed, “I didn’t want to do it. I was scared of where it would take me.” The script’s unflinching portrayal of addiction, loneliness, and self-destruction felt dangerously familiar, and Jolie worried that immersing herself in Gia’s world would reopen old wounds she had not yet fully healed.

Compounding her concerns was a fear that the film might mishandle its sensitive themes. According to an IMDb feature, Jolie was wary that the story’s treatment of drug addiction and AIDS could veer into sensationalism rather than honoring the humanity of those struggles. The weight of getting it wrong — and the personal toll it might exact — made her initial instinct to decline the role understandable.

But ultimately, Jolie chose to step into Gia’s shoes, and the experience proved transformative. She later reflected that playing the supermodel became a kind of emotional reckoning: “I identified with her a lot. She’s the closest character to me that I’ve ever played. But in an odd way, playing Gia has made it possible for me not to ever become her.” Through embodying Gia’s pain, Jolie found a way to confront her own, allowing her to forge a different path.

The gamble paid off. Jolie’s searing performance was met with critical acclaim, earning her a Golden Globe and solidifying her as one of Hollywood’s most magnetic talents. Gia boasts a 93% critic score and an 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Variety praised it as “uncompromisingly bleak,” a testament to its stark portrayal of self-destruction.

Today, Gia stands not only as a milestone in Jolie’s career but also as a pivotal moment of personal growth — a role she once feared, but ultimately one that helped save her.