Angelina Jolie is without doubt one of the most successful Hollywood figures of the 21st century, arguably of all time. She can boast of dozens of credits and multiple prestigious awards to her name for her work as an actress on the big screen.
Since 2005, she has also made a seamless and successful transition to add behind-the-camera work to her already impressive portfolio. In that time, she has written, directed and/or produced at least ten films.
Avid Humanitarian And Activist
Beyond her work in the motion picture industry, Jolie has also become an avid humanitarian and activist for various noble causes.
During the process of filming her 2001 hit Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, she came face to face with the pain and suffering caused by war and strife in the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia. This inspired her to partner up with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise money and awareness with the goal of alleviating the plight of refugees and displaced persons around the world.
Today, Jolie is officially a Special Envoy to the UNHCR, a role she has held since 2012. She has also engaged in other philanthropic work such as conservation and community development efforts in Africa and Asia, as well as child immigration and education initiatives in America.
For all this work, she has received different awards and recognitions, including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in 2013, as well as an honorary damehood from the Queen in 2014.
With this level of success and achievement, it might be hard to envision Jolie being regretful for missing out on certain feats, or even jealous of someone else who achieved them.
Still, rumors abound that the 45-year old icon is envious of fellow actress Brie Larson for her work on the MCU smash Captain Marvel, and quite rueful that she apparently turned down the opportunity to direct the film.
First Female-led Superhero Movie
In 2015, a report on The Guardian claimed that Jolie was being considered as a potential director for Captain Marvel, the first female-led superhero movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There isn't enough information in the public domain to ascertain that this consideration might have been converted into an offer. In the same breath, it is not clear why, if she did receive such an offer, she ended up not signing on for what would have been for many people, a life changing opportunity.
Around the same time, Jolie would have been working on First They Killed My Father, a film about a seven-year old Cambodian child soldier who is forced to fight in the Vietnam War. The film depicts the real life story of Loung Ung, a human rights activist, lecturer and author who actually co-wrote the script with Jolie.
With a deal already in place with Netflix for the worldwide release of the film, it is plausible that Jolie's commitment to that particular project meant she could not take on any other significant work at the same time.
In many ways, Captain Marvel also represents a type of work that Jolie has not really been synonymous with since she made the move into directing and producing. Generally, the stories that she has worked on have mostly been personal stories - such as By The Sea, a romantic drama flick that she wrote and starred in alongside her then-husband, Brad Pitt.
An Instant Roaring Success
In the end, Captain Marvel was directed by the Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck duo, also known for works such as Mississippi Grind and It's Kind of a Funny Story. The movie was an instant, roaring success, as it grossed a whopping $154m at the box office on its opening weekend alone.
It went on to maintain an upward trajectory that steered it past the $1 billion mark barely three months after its release. Today, the film ranks an impressive ninth in the list of the MCU's highest-grossing films of all time.
For her portrayal of Carol Danvers, Larson also received multiple award nominations, although the only gong she took home was for 'Best Fight in a Movie' in the MTV Movie & TV Awards. She is currently gearing up to start filming for Captain Marvel 2, whose principal photography kicks off at the end of May.
Fans had actually been calling out for Jolie to be brought on as director for the project. Instead, it will be Little Woods and Candyman's Nia DaCosta who will take up that mantle.
Nonetheless, Jolie does have her own upcoming Marvel project: she plays the character Thena in Marvel's The Eternals, due to be released in early November.