Tomb Raider is the first film to be shot in Cambodia since Peter O'Toole played Lord Jim in the shadow of Angkor Wat in 1964 (one reason why West wanted to film there). If she didn't do it, I can't think who else would have been suitable.' 'Angelina was always my only choice, not even my first choice,' he said. Had they been allowed closer to the set, the tourists would have witnessed something rather different: a grim-faced Lara expertly power-sliding her Land Rover through a morass of mud and water for the cameras.įor director Simon West, there was never any question about who should play the lead.

The temple guide explained that they were filming a 'love story'. Closer examination proved impossible, alas: bystanders who strayed too close to the set were scared off by cries of 'Oi, you! Keep back!' from a pack of hulking British minders.Ī few hours later, a group of daytrippers visiting the Bayon temple asked what all the trucks and cameras were for. Lara, in the shape of Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, was looking exceptionally lithe in a jet-black catsuit the result, apparently, of several months spent bungee jumping, motorbike riding and martial-arts training.

For this sacred site is one of the chief locations used in the filming of Tomb Raider, the first big-screen outing for Eidos's phenomenally successful cyberbabe, Lara Croft. A ny Buddhist monks making a pilgrimage to the Cambodian temple of Angkor Wat two weeks ago would have been greeted by an unexpected sight: a strikingly pretty, superbly toned young woman engaged in unarmed combat with a group of masked marauders, watched by a full-scale Hollywood production crew.

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