RAISING THE GAME
As Tomb Raider Lara Croft gets a big screen reboot, Marion McMullen looks at the world of the action woman
1 LARA Croft first burst onto the scene in 1996 as the heroine in the video game Tomb Raider.
She was an archeologist with attitude who favoured shorts, boots, a skimpy top and a utility belt.
She quickly became a favourite with gamers and has appeared on more than 1,000 magazine covers over the years. 2 LONDON-BORN actress Shelley Blond was the original voice of Lara Croft.
The fourth person to voice the action hero was Ashes to Ashes and The Durrells actress Keeley Hawes who once said: “Lara Croft is such a strong and powerful character, but she also has an edge to her, which was great to portray vocally.” 3 THERE has been a wide range of Lara Croft merchandise over the years. Action figures and toys have been popular as well as posters and fancy dress costumes. The video game star, above, has starred in TV advertising campaigns and was even featured on a French postage stamp. 4 ANGELINA Jolie learned how to handle weapons from a SAS instructor and had lessons in yoga and kickboxing when she was cast as the action woman in the 2001 movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. She trained for six months to prepare for the role and her real-life father Jon Voight played Lara Croft’s father in the film. 5 THE movie became one of the highest grossing action films starring a woman and led to sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003. Angelina Jolie was paid $7m for the first film and $12m for the 2003 movie. 6 LARA’S vital statistics have changed a lot over the years.
The video game character is a 36DD and Angelina Jolie, left, a 36C, was padded up to a 36D for the first movie. She said: “We split the difference.”
The extra padding was ditched for the follow-up film. 7 THE Cradle Of Life was filmed on location on the Greek island of Santorini, Kenya, Hong Kong and Snowdonia in Wales.
Hatfield House in Hertforshire doubled as Lara Croft’s mansion. 8 THE new Tomb Raider movie is the first in 15 years and sees Alicia Vikander, left, take on the role of Lara Croft. The Swedish-born film star has also appeared in The Danish Girl, The Man From UNCLE, Jason Bourne and as a humanoid robot in Ex Machina. 9 ALICIA, who is married to actor Michael Fassbender, was a fan of the video game series growing up.
The 29-year-old is a trained dancer but hit the gym to put on muscle to play Lara and worked on her own stunts for the movie.
One of Angelina Jolie’s stunt doubles in The Cradle Of Life was a man. 10 THE new movie is said to be an origins tale drawn from the 2013 Tomb Raider game. Director Roar Uthaug said Oscar-winner Alicia, above, who also played Vera Brittain in Testament Of Youth, is a “brilliant” Lara Croft.