Vanity Fair stands by its account of Angelina Jolie's intense and controversial method of casting children
That passage sparked internet outrage immediately after publication, and got a firm rebuke from Jolie's camp. But Vanity Fair is sticking by it.
The piece says Jolie traveled to Cambodia to find children she thought would be great for the lead role of young Loung Ung.
Jolie reportedly sought out impoverished children to play the part of Ung, specifically those she deemed had experienced hardship. Then Jolie, along with her casting director, played games with them that have come across as cruel and unnecessary to many.
Here's the relevant paragraph from the Vanity Fair piece:
The article goes on to explain Jolie's methods as a way of garnering raw emotion from the children, but to many the method comes off as excessive and mean-spirited.
After backlash from the story emerged, Jolie disputed the notion that the casting of children for "First They Killed My Father" was anything like what Vanity Fair contributing editor Evgenia Peretz described.
Jolie said, in a statement released to Entertainment Weekly, "Every measure was taken to ensure the safety, comfort, and well-being of the children on the film starting from the auditions through production to the present."
Jolie also continued to say that additional measures were taken to keep the casting from feeling exploitative:
Friday morning, Vanity Fair responded to Jolie's comments, and announced that it stand by the story it published.
Vanity Fair explained that Jolie's attorney asked that it release a public statement apologizing for misunderstanding Jolie and the casting process, in addition to republishing the cover story with the paragraph referring to the cruel casting practices removed.
Vanity Fair, upon careful review of the audio from Peretz and Jolie's interview, chose not to publicly apologize or revise the original story. Vanity Fair instead published the pertinent portion of the transcript that the controversial casting paragraph is based on. You can read that over at Vanity Fair.
No further comments have been made by Jolie at this time.