When Angelina talks people listen – and often have emotional reactions which are completely out of proportion to whatever it is she said. The overly-candid actress spoke to the crowd in a question and answer session at the Santa Barbara Film Festival where she accepted the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award for A Mighty Heart. She may not have been nominated for an Oscar this year, but someone should give her an award for the ability to remain controversial while making benign statements.

Angelina talked graciously about one of her ex husbands, calling Billy Bob Thornton “an amazing artist” when someone brought him up. She let us all know that she’s not trolling the ‘net reading up on the vitriolic gossip about her by saying that she doesn’t even know how to turn on a computer. And she seems to have opened up a whole can of dead dried out worms by mentioning how she met her partner again, saying she was reluctant at first to take her role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but that “obviously I’m very glad I did it – It changed my life.” She even brought up her strained relationship with her dad. Of course all of this is taken out of context and she was specifically asked about these things.

• She retains fond memories of sharing a single acting scene in Tomb Raider with her father Jon Voight, from whom she’s currently estranged. “Strangely enough, the scene was about a daughter and her father who had not spent their lives together and had a lot of questions for each other…[It was] kind of therapeutic for us to get some things out and talk. We spent that time as two artists, and it was a special time. It was an important time.”
• When her ex-husband and Pushing Tin costar Billy Bob Thornton was mentioned, she said “I thought he was an amazing artist, and still is.”
• Prior to screening the famous tango scene clip from Mr. & Mrs. Smith, she was asked if she or Pitt was the better dancer: “I think we’re about equal,” she replied. “Equally not so good.”
• Despite starring in several high-tech productions, she’s technologically challenged in real life: “As Brad knows, I don’t really how to turn on a computer.”
• After back-to-back clips featuring romantic scenes with Brad in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and she and Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd, Jolie said she looked like she was “out on one date and went out on another.” Given the choice between former [Pitt] and current [Damon] holders of PEOPLE’s “Sexiest Man Alive” title she responded “I’m going with the first one.”
• Both she and Pitt were initially reluctant to take on their roles in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but “obviously I’m very glad I did it – It changed my life.”
• When asked if her humanitarian efforts were an even greater passion than acting, she chose a third alternative: “I love being a mom, and I think that’s my big passion: being with my family.”

[From People.com]

The way that Angelina Jolie seems to elicit very strong feelings in others often baffles me. But reading this interview, distilled and excerpted down to the key issues that people have with her, helps me understand how she’s become such a target. She doesn’t say anything controversial in this talk, but manages to address all the reasons she is controversial. Maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with her, and she’s just trying to graciously answer all the questions without deferring. When she said she wouldn’t talk about the Jennifer Aniston W Magazine cover face-off everyone bashed her for it, so maybe she can’t win either way.

She should hire a publicist and a personal coach to help her talk around things though. She could also make friends with Reese Witherspoon. Now there’s an A-List actress who manages to make statements about her personal life without revealing much. But I suppose you can’t blame Angelina for addressing all the bullet point reasons that people use to bash her. After all, she can’t turn on a computer and presumably doesn’t know how much fury some seemingly minor statements can unleash. (Don’t make me turn off the comments on this post.)

Brad and Angelina are shown on the red carpet at the Santa Barbara film festival. Reporters were instructed not to ask questions about Angelina’s rumored pregnancy or to question Brad about his rare lapse in fashion judgment. Thanks to Splash News for these photos.