Gia (1998) (TV)

Director:

Michael Cristofer

Writers (WGA):

Jay McInerney (written by) and
Michael Cristofer (written by)

Release Date:

31 January 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

This is life... not heaven... you don't have to be perfect.

Plot:

Movie based on the life of Gia Carangi, a top fashion model from the late 1970s.

Plot Keywords:

Model | Fashion | 1970s | Drug Abuse | AIDS

Awards:

Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Angelina Jolie	...	Gia Carangi
Elizabeth Mitchell	...	Linda
Eric Michael Cole	...	T.J.
Kylie Travis	...	Stephanie - Model
Louis Giambalvo	...	Joe Carangi
John Considine	...	Bruce Cooper
Scott Cohen	...	Mike Mansfield
Edmund Genest	...	Francesco (as Edmond Genest)
Mercedes Ruehl	...	Kathleen Carangi
Faye Dunaway	...	Wilhelmina Cooper
Holly Baker	...	Emergency Room Nurse
Joe Basile	...	Disco Doorman Tony
Rick Batalla	...	Hispanic Stylist Phillipe
Lombardo Boyar	...	Hood #2
Jullian Dulce Vida	...	Hood #3 (as Julio Dolce Vita)

MPAA:

Rated R for graphic depiction of drug abuse, strong sexual content, language and some violence.

Runtime:

120 min | USA:126 min (unrated version) | South Korea:105 min | Germany:117 min (dvd release) | Argentina:126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:R (Ontario) (unrated version) | Singapore:(Banned) | Germany:12 | UK:18 | Argentina:16 | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (also unrated version) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Manitoba) (unrated version) | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Mexico:C | Norway:18 | Poland:18 (TV rating) | South Korea:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

HBO Pictures

Trivia:

This movie is mentioned in the opening crawl of _"Family Guy" (1999) {Blue Harvest (#6.1)} _, the Family Guy Star Wars parody. 'Mila Kunis', who plays one of the younger versions of Gia, is a voice-over actress on Family Guy.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Gia passes a billboard showing a phone number with the area code 718. Area code 718 was not introduced to New York until 1985.

Quotes:

Gia Carangi: It's not about you. It's not you that they're looking at. It's not about you. I'm on top of that. I understand that.
Wilhemina Cooper: Oh, honey that's good, I'm so glad about that.
Gia Carangi: Because, if you let it be about you, then you're screwed, you know? So you have to stay separate from what's happening and you have to be somewhere else. But I don't know where that somewhere else is, you know? Or how to do that.
Wilhemina Cooper: Honey, you can do whatever you want right now.
Gia Carangi: Yeah, but what is it that I want? What do I want?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 56th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Will She Stay?

Unforgettable

This movie turned out to be a very unexpected favorite of mine. Angelina Jolie stars as the late Gia Marie Carangi, an Italian American woman who rose from a humble Philidephian beginning to worldwide fame as the first known "supermodel", and whose short-lived career spanned from the late seventies to the early to mid eighties. Jolie is super-impressive as she portrays the highs and lows of Gia's fame: strutting through a crowd of admirers, the look on her face saying, "I'm GIA, and you're nobody!"; endulging in glamour drug of the moment, cocaine; fiercely proclaiming her love for Linda (Elizabeth Mitchell), right in front of Linda's boyfriend; tearfully begging her visiting mother (Mercedes Ruehl) to stay with her, then hurling obscenities at her while throwing her baggage out of the apartment; and quietly and gracefully accepting the most tragic news about her health, just as she's finally getting her life on track. This movie deals very frankly with Gia's sexuality and there is some nudity and scenes of sexuality, but looking past the sex and the drugs and the tough exterior she displayed (especially when someone took her knife away from her), you see a very lost, fragile person. Gia is almost childlike in her disillusionment about the fashion industry, and you feel it in the way she fantasizes about a "normal" life with children, the way she feels like people regard her as a "piece of meat" with no brains, and the way she is so truly hurt by a fellow model calling her hateful names in a jealous rage. I think this movie is something that should be seen by people of all ages, regardless of its sexual content, because it carries a strong anti-drug message as well as a touching story we can all identify with even if a lot of us are not blessed with the kind of glorious physical beauty Gia was blessed with.