Angelina Jolie Fires Back at 'Vanity Fair,' Disputes 'First They Killed My Father' Audition Story

Angelina Jolie is refuting an account published in her Vanity Fair cover story about how casting directors played a “game” with the young children they auditioned for First They Killed My Father, the new movie she directed.

“In order to find their lead, to play young Loung Ung, the casting directors set up a game, rather disturbing in its realism: they put money on the table and asked the child to think of something she needed the money for, and then to snatch it away. The director would pretend to catch the child, and the child would have to come up with a lie,” the Vanity Fair story reads. Many are calling this account of the casting emotionally abusive.

Angelina released a statement to the Huffington Post assuring everyone that the story is taken out of context and there were guardians, parents, doctors, and more present during the entire filming process.

“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,” Angelina said. “I am upset that a pretend exercise in an improvisation, from an actual scene in the film, has been written about as if it was a real scenario. The suggestion that real money was taken from a child during an audition is false and upsetting. I would be outraged myself if this had happened.”