Jolie Lawyer Takes Fall for Media Snafu

Jolie Lawyer Takes Fall for Media Snafu


Try to control the media? Not me, says Angelina Jolie.

The star of the new film "A Mighty Heart," about the widow of slain reporter Daniel Pearl and freedom of the press, says her representatives were trying to protect her when they sought to make media outlets sign an agreement not to ask personal questions during interviews.

"I didn't put it out there," Jolie said Thursday on "The Daily Show." "It was from my representatives trying to be protective of me, but it was excessive and I wouldn't have put it out there. But it's all right and nobody was forced to do it."

Jolie spoke candidly about her family at the film's Manhattan premiere on Wednesday. But media outlets seeking one-on-one interviews, including The Associated Press, were asked to sign a legal document banning certain questions and mandating that any story from the interview must be about the movie.

Requests to sign such documents are rare, but on the rise with the increase of tabloid celebrity coverage. The AP declined to sign Jolie's agreement, yet was still scheduled to interview Jolie on Friday afternoon.

Jolie's manager, Geyer Kosinski, and a spokeswoman for the Paramount movie studio did not immediately respond to e-mail messages from the AP seeking comment.

Jolie's lawyer, Robert Offer, told The New York Times that he blamed himself a "boneheaded, overzealous lawyer" for the contract and that Jolie was unaware of the action. The document "was drafted overly broadly," he said. "It was well intended, but I understand how it was received."