Elisabeth Moss says ‘Angelina Jolie camp’ was ‘intimidating’ on Girl, Interrupted set

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Elisabeth Moss has shared some insight into her experience while filming Girl, Interrupted, claiming she felt intimidated by the “Angelina Jolie camp” on set.

The Handmaid’s Tale star recently appeared on the podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, which often allows guests to discuss some behind-the-scenes aspects of their signature roles.

In the 1999 psychological drama set in a psychiatric hospital, Moss – who was around 15 years old when filming – portrayed a burn victim with schizophrenia called Polly “Torch” Clark.

Winona Ryder played the protagonist Susanna Kaysen, who had been admitted into the institution after a nervous breakdown, while Jolie played a charismatic sociopath named Lisa Rowe.

Speaking to Ripa on the 1 May episode of the podcast, Moss, now 41, said there was a natural division among the cast and crew, split between the film’s two lead stars.

“There were two kinds of camps. There was the Winona Ryder camp and the Angelina Jolie camp,” Moss noted.

“I was in the Winona Ryder camp. The Angelina Jolie camp was really cool. I was intimidated by the Angelina Jolie camp. I had no thoughts of ever being able to be in that camp.”

Moss said she and the Maleficent star had spoken in the years that followed, and that she was likely unaware of her “camp” seeming unapproachable to others.

“I’ve spoken to Angelina since then and she’s lovely, but at the time it was just incredibly intimidating,” Moss continued. “I never brought it up. I’m sure she would have no idea what I was talking about anyway. I was just definitely not cool enough to be in her camp.”

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Moss added being several years younger than the rest of her castmates added to her “awestruck” feeling on the set.

“I was 15 or 16. My mom was still with me going to set. I was with all these movie stars. Winona Ryder! Angelina Jolie! Clea DuVall! Britney Murphy! This amazing cast of women. It was like being dropped into The Wizard of Oz.

“I was so awestruck by my surroundings and working with Winona and Angelina, and they were so different and interesting.”

Ryder has also previously hinted towards a level of separation between her and Jolie while filming. In 2010, she told the Sydney Morning Herald that her assumption that she and Jolie would become “great friends” proved untrue.

“But I think she needed to be able to look at me just as the character Susanna, not as Winona, so in a very respectful way she just kind of kept her distance,” Ryder explained.

Jolie has also reflected on the filming of Girl, Interrupted, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Speaking about getting into character as Lisa, Jolie told BuzzFeed in 2014: “I really, genuinely thought I was the only character who was sane in the entire film. And if you watch it closely, that's exactly how I was playing it: I am just the only sane person here.

“I was actually almost upset when people said I was so good at playing insane because I never thought she was insane. She was just incredibly honest, which, I guess, made her seem crazy.”