Gia

UPC: 026359154027

Studio: HBO Home Video

Summary: Novelist Jay McInerney and playwright Michael Cristofer (who also made his feature film directorial debut) collaborated on the script for this bio of doomed supermodel Gia Carangi. In a star-making performance, Angelina Jolie stars as Gia, a gorgeous Philadelphia native who arrives in New York City to become a model and immediately makes an impression on high-powered agent Wilhelmina Cooper (Faye Dunaway). Gia's fierce good looks make her a star, as does her willingness to pose nude. Gia becomes entangled in a passionate affair with a photographer's assistant, Linda (Elizabeth Mithcell), but Linda is more conflicted about her bisexuality, driving Gia away and fueling the model's craving for mood-altering drugs. Failed attempts at reconciliation with both Linda and her mother Kathleen (Mercedes Ruehl) drive Gia further over the edge from cocaine to heroin, her emaciated body and sunken eyes becoming the catalyst for the "heroin chic" look. Although Gia is eventually able to kick her powerful habit, she learns that an infected needle has resulted in her contracting the AIDS virus. For the second year in a row, a made-for-TV film resulted in an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe victory for Jolie (the first was George Wallace, 1998). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Category: Drama

Features: [None specified]

Gia

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 08/24/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DS Dolby Surround (4.0), DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 125 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Once Upon a Time [5:38]
2. Special [9:47]
3. Be Yourself [6:04]
4. Linda [10:06]
5. This is It [5:04]
6. Girlfriends [9:37]
7. Work is the Only Answer [10:13]
8. Chasing the Dragon [8:23]
9. Mr. & Mrs. Doodiekins [10:12]
10. You Choose [8:27]
11. All the Gold is Gone [10:02]
12. Blame? [7:18]
13. Something More Serious [6:52]
14. The Last Shot [10:31]
15. It Was Worth It [6:41]

Lisa Kropiewnicki

Just prior to her Academy Award-winning performance for Best Supporting Actress in Girl, Interrupted (1999), Angelina Jolie received major kudos for her acting with the lead role of Gia Maria Carangi in this haunting biopic, earning a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy nomination. A former model with a rebellious personality herself, Jolie is versatile and resplendently raw as a vulnerable 19-year-old swimming with the sharks in the competitive fashion scene or as a junkie walking the alleys of New York looking for her next fix. Jolie's powerful presence brings Gia's wild spirit to life, while Faye Dunaway is elegant and well suited to her role as the savvy yet nurturing Wilhelmina. Anecdotes from characters representing Gia's friends and family, along with black-and-white behind-the-scenes intercuts, effectively give the film a more journalistic quality, although director Michael Cristofer goes overboard with stylistic affectations which are intrusive rather than supportive to the story. Like Gia's short life, this made-for-TV movie gets as glamorous as it does gritty: Stylish and colorfully bold photo sessions eventually give way to a devastatingly tragic visual of the supermodel's bout with AIDS. ~ Lisa Kropiewnicki, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Holly Sampson  Actor 
Rick Batalla  Actor 
Terence Blanchard  Composer (Music Score) 
Michael Cristofer  Director 
Michael Cristofer  Screenwriter 
Jay McInerney  Screenwriter 
Marvin Worth  Executive Producer 
David R. Ginsburg  Executive Producer 
Jim Brubaker  Producer 
Ilene Khan Power  Executive Producer 
Angelina Jolie  Actor 
Elizabeth Mitchell  Actor 
Faye Dunaway  Actor 
Mercedes Ruehl  Actor 
Kylie Travis  Actor 
Eric Michael Cole  Actor 
Louis Giambalvo  Actor 
John Considine  Actor 
Scott Cohen  Actor 
Edmond Genest  Actor 

Country: USA