0906 tomb raider

Okay, I know it’s an “old” movie, but I watched “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” (2001) and listened to the commentary by the director. I found out that the leads had to deliver their lines in accents foreign to themselves. Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight were American actors playing English characters. Iain Glen was Scottish, but playing English. And Daniel Craig was English, but playing American.

The director also commented that camera angles on Angelina had to be done in a way that obscured her many tattoos. In one shower scene, graphic artists had to go frame-by-frame in post-production and paint over tattoos so they wouldn’t show.

The game designers of “Tomb Raider” were interviewed and mentioned that the game was originally designed with a male character. But this was right at the same time that “Indiana Jones” was popular, so they were looking for something different, because someone else had come out with an “Indiana Jones” video game. So they changed the character into a female ... curvy to attract the men, but type-A to attract the women (many women wanted to be like her).

I remember when the game came out. It caused quite a stir. Video game magazines were inundated with requests for photo layouts ... of a fictional character who was only seen as a graphic image. Months after the video game release were articles that said although “Lara’s” wardrobe could not be changed, the color of her outfits could. Many gamers admitted to changing the color of her clothes to match her skin tone. That way, she appeared naked.

Nowadays, anything is possible.