Angelina Jolie has made the movie The One And Only Ivan thanks to Shiloh who came forward with the book.
The 45-year-old actress explained how she boarded the film after one of her children brought the book to her attention.
‘I thought it was very important and wanted to get involved, I liked the messages in it … I know this young generation is really very aware of what is happening to our natural habitats, to these animals,’ said the 45-year-old who is still in the process of divorcing Brad Pitt.
‘Well, Shiloh years ago told me that she had read a book that she loved and she wanted me to read it,’ said the activist.
‘I read it on my own and then we looked at some of it together and we talked about why she loved it. Then, I inquired if it was being made – as you do – into a film, and I found out that it was kind of in the works but kind of hadn’t [been] figured out.’
The Oscar-winning actress serves as a producer and voices elephant Stella in the Disney+ movie, which is based on the best-selling children’s story of the same name.
It centers on gorilla Ivan (voiced by Sam Rockwell), who performs at Mack’s (Bryan Cranston) circus but dreams of a life beyond the cage. Also in the movie is child star Ariana Greenblatt who looks like a mini me version of the A list actress. The 12-year-old New York native child star plays Julia in the movie.
Angelina said: ‘Disney, Mike (White) and everybody involved really (understood) it has its heart.
‘It’s not a light film, it deals with heavy issues, but it is charming, fun and full of life. But it’s deceptive in the packaging.’
Director Thea Sharrock added that they didn’t want the film to ‘feel like a documentary’ which influenced decision-making during the production, such as the size of the bars in Ivan’s cage.
She said: ‘This is not just any studio, it’s Disney, so we definitely knew there was a tone we had to get right.
