Gia (TV 1998)

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

Director:

Michael Cristofer

Writers:

Jay McInerney, Michael Cristofer

Stars:

Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruehl

Won 2 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

Fact-based story of top fashion model Gia Marie Carangi follows her life from a rebel working in her father's diner at age 17 to her death in 1986 at age 26 from AIDS, one of the first women in America whose death was attributed to the disease. In between, she followed a downward spiral of drug abuse and failed relationships.

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Plot Keywords:

model | fashion | death | 1970s | aids | 

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Taglines:

Too Beautiful To Die. Too Wild To Live.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

NC-17

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

31 January 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anatomie d'un top model

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Pictures, Marvin Worth Productions, Citadel Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 126 min (unrated) 117 min (dvd release)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

The letter "G" that Gia carves on the receptionist's desk.

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Quotes

Linda: I'm checking to see if you need to be tweezed.
Gia Carangi: I'm tweezed.
Linda: I'm Linda.

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Crazy Credits

Film ends with the following poem: ...heaven on earth back again into under far in between through it in it and above... From the journal of GIA MARIE CARANGI 1960-1986

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Connections

References The Brady Bunch (1969)

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Soundtracks

"Young At Heart"
Written by Carolyn Leigh & Johnny Richards
Performed by Jeanie Bryson
Arrangement by Terence Blanchard

User Reviews

Great movie - but the book is better

When Cindy Crawford first entered the modeling world, she was dubbed, "Baby Gia." Her likeness to the model that was beyond perfection was what helped boost her career. Crawford, knew little about Carangi and her struggle.

When Stephen Fried published Thing of Beauty in 1993, he shed light on the exotic beauty known as Gia. He exposed the dark side of modeling, and showed the world the rise and fall of one of the most beautiful girls to ever live.

The movie Gia, is based of Fried's book. However, the movie takes several liberties. Gia's lover, "Linda", is based of Sandy Linter, a make-up artist in which Gia wooed and dated. Gia also dated a women by the name of Alyssa (she used the alias "Rochelle" in Fried's book). The writers combined these two loves, however, down played Alyssa's personality and character.

Gia's "journals" never existed. She did keep date books, too keep track of her appointments, and occasionally wrote things, but she never had an extensive amount of journals like the movie portrays. Gia's time in rehab is also downplayed.

Without a doubt, the movie is good, but if you want to know more about Gia, check out the book.