Gia captures the tragic life of the very first supermodel. Though earlier models might have fit the description, Gia Carangi was considered the first supermodel. She quickly rose to prominence throughout the 80’s and appeared on the cover of many high-profile fashion magazines. Yet I never heard of her until I discovered her biopic. Despite being a made-for-TV HBO exclusive, Gia could’ve easily made an impact in theaters. It was nominated for several Primetime Emmy Awards with Angelina Jolie winning a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award. At least she won her Academy Award the following year for Girl, Interrupted. Jolie is just as beautiful as the titular supermodel.
We see her difficult home life in Philadelphia and hear about the fairy tale life that she hopes for. It’s weird seeing a high-profile actress like Mila Kunis play the younger version of a high-profile actress like Jolie before she was famous. Mercedes Ruehl is equally dedicated as Gia’s mother Kathleen who abandoned her. Louis Giambalvo is her father who owns an Italian restaurant and caused her to leave. When she becomes a teenager, Gia shows off her wild side and tomboy style. Eric Michael Cole is her first boyfriend T.J. who’s with her when she gets discovered. Despite being with a guy at first, Gia is mostly in a lesbian relationship with her makeup artist. Elizabeth Mitchell technically plays Gia’s lover Sandy Linter, but they use the name Linda.
I’ll admit I mostly wanted to see the movie because it featured very prominent nudity from Angelina Jolie. There’s a solid 5 minutes of her posing nude, sleeping with Linda, and casually confronting her while naked. Chris von Wangenheim is the German photographer who took the racy photos of Gia and Linter naked behind a chain-link fence. Though she also works with photographer Francesco Scavullo, her best relationship is with mentor Wilhelmina Cooper. Faye Dunaway also won a Golden Globe for playing the founder of Wilhelmina Models who dies of lung cancer. Gia’s downward spiral is hard to watch as she uses cocaine, heroine, sabotages her career, and alienates the people closest to her. Specifically her mother and Linda. Sadly, we also see Gia suffer from AIDS and become the first female celebrity to die from the illness. Gia sets a high standard for made-for-TV biopics.
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I first heard about Gia in my Freshman year Health class in High School, though I really learned the gist of the film when I read all this bio info on Jolie. Gia’s story was one of the earliest combo rags to riches and cautionary tales I knew about and how it serves as both inspiration and warnings on fame and success. Gotta give credit to Jolie for doing the nudity scenes, that can make or break you as a performer. Jolie was in a relationship with Cantonese actress Bai Ling at the time, so she didn’t need much prep for the onscreen romance with Liz Mitchell. Never knew Gia Carangi was a Philadelphian, that’s really interesting. The city did have a number of moderately to highly successful fashionista’s back in the 90’s, even I got professionally photographed when I was 6 or 7, though they never paid me or my parents any royalties when a copy was used as advertising in a local shop.
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Thanks for the insight. I didn’t know that about Angelina Jolie. She was an even better choice for Gia than I thought.
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I saw this movie a long time ago a bit by accident. I didn’t know about Gia at all, but it made me curious and I read her biography. That, in turn, made me want to rewatch the film… And of course I couldn’t find it anywhere. I am happy to see it mentioned on your blog because even though Angelina is in it, over here the movie is very much unknown to the broad public. A shame really.
I think I haven’t mentioned it often before but I am a movie fan and your blog is one of my favourites to read because there are not only famous films being reviewed. That said, I recently watched Flawless with Robert de Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman… Great film, not outstanding, but great nonetheless.
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Thank you, I’m sure you mentioned it before. I intended to review Gia for a while. HBO movies aren’t remembered as much, but I’m sure people would remember it if it was released in theaters.
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