David Duchovny helped cast Angelina Jolie in early role Playing God: ‘I just knew she was a movie star’

David Duchovny jokes that he feels partially responsible for Angelina Jolie’s wild success as an actress. 

The actor revealed he played a part in Jolie landing one of her earliest lead roles, insinuating their work together in the 1997 neo-noir crime film Playing God sparked her career. 

Duchovny, 63, explained during an episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, during which they played word association.

Watch the video above.

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The pair discussed several of his former co-stars, from Eddie Murphy, whom he called a “legend,” to Demi Moore, who he called “sweet.” 

When the show’s host, Andy Cohen, said Jolie’s name, Duchovny had more than one word to describe her.  

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“I feel like I discovered Angelina Jolie,” he said. 

“I was part of the casting of [Playing God]. I didn’t discover her, but you know, she came in, and I just knew she was a movie star.”

“I told everybody, ‘We’ve gotta cast her!'”

Duchovny plays the role of a surgeon who had his medical practice revoked before he was hired as a personal physician to a mobster. 

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Jolie played one of the mobster’s girlfriend in the film, and she says her experience was “wild.” 

The actress discussed her role in detail in an interview for the June 1997 issue of Interview magazine.

“[Playing God] was very rock-‘n’-roll and fun and loud and say-what-you-want-to-say, dress wild and love wild … I really allowed myself to get into that world,” she told the outlet then. 

“Being the age [I] am, I sometimes feel like a punk kid walking onto certain sets, but I didn’t this time. I felt very much [like] a woman.”

Jolie became an Oscar-award winning actress who has starred in numerous successful films in Hollywood. 

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