For many, many years, Angelina Jolie did not have an agent or a publicist. She had a manager and a lawyer and that was pretty much it for her “team.” She was sent scripts and she would read them and decide if she wanted to do them. There was no agent in her ear, telling her which projects to pass on or which deals to approve. When Angelina first got with Brad Pitt, I think he convinced her to join his agency, CAA, and she did it just to try something new, I guess. But she left after a few months. I personally think that she was turned off by CAA’s management style, plus Jennifer Aniston was (at the time) CAA’s golden girl. More years passed and Angelina was still just functioning without an agent. In 2011 she went to UTA for representation as a director, then in 2013, she had UTA represent her as an actress too. But now that’s over. She’s changing agencies. Interesting…
Angelina Jolie has signed with WME after spending most of the past decade with UTA. Jolie is coming off the Disney sequel “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” which is close to grossing $500 million worldwide. In recent years, the woman who is one of the world’s most recognizable movie stars has focused more on directing and producing than acting. As of late that has changed as Jolie has lined up a number of prominent acting jobs including the lead role in Marvel’s “Eternals,” set for release next year.
Jolie came to UTA as a director client in 2011 while being repped by IFA for acting. As of 2013, she was repped on all fronts by UTA. Before coming to UTA, she had been without agency representation after parting ways with CAA in 2006. During her time with UTA, the agency negotiated Jolie’s first deal to direct a studio picture with 2014’s “Unbroken,” and to direct Netflix’s “First They Killed My Father,” which she also co-wrote. She executive produced the 2017 Oscar-nominated animated film “The Breadwinner.” She also has a starring voice role and produced the upcoming Disney animated feature “The One and Only Ivan.”
Hear me out: this reminds me a little bit about how Angelina switched divorce lawyers in the middle of her (still not over) divorce. Angelina phased out Laura Wasser and phased in Samantha DeJean… and suddenly all of the leaks from her divorce stopped on a dime and Brad Pitt’s team stopped smearing Jolie 24-7. Could it be that Angelina suddenly needed a different kind of agency in what could be a new phase of her career? She’s made it clear that more than three years after she left Brad, she’s just now starting to feel okay and like she’s ready to really WORK. Perhaps she needs a “war-time consigliere” for her career now too. All signs point to the idea that Angelina is going to be making some big moves in the coming months and years. Plus, she’s still extra-cozy with Disney and Marvel. We’ll see.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Could it be that her agent at UTA went over to William Morris and therefore so did Angelina.
She is one of those people who likes certain consistencies and it the agent she had was doing well for her and left for another company, I can see AJ going as well.
UTA got into some trouble early this year and they are losing their clients rapidly.
WMA has been voted one of the agencies out there so it’s a mutually beneficial partnership between Angelina and them.
UTA has given her some good roles so I don’t think that’s the case.
I do agree that Angelina is making some major career moves especially since 4 movies of hers are coming out next year alone. I can see her going back to thrillers and action movies plus do some directions and producing.
Ooooh I love industry gossip – any insight on what trouble went down at UTA?
And the kept.
I’m curious as to why she’s go with any agency, she’s clearly has good instincts and roles without one.
So few comments on an Angie post?
Interesting move on her part. Trust Angie to know what she needs and want for her career. As much as I love the idea of her shaking off her Maleficent wings for cape and battle armor for The Eternals, I really would love to see her do straight up dramas. I know she’s got two coming out (Come Away and Those Who Wish Me Dead), but I am still holding out for this one film that was talked about years ago. Unforgiven, I think? The one about a woman being released from prison for killing a man (or something like that). There was talk about her and Robert Patterson being cast in this one. Anyhoo, love me some Angie and would love to see her take on more acting roles.
This is really an interesting move from Angelina. We’ll we see and hear more about her career move? I am really hoping that she do more movies and other than action and animations, i would really want to see her explore in drama again.