It’s 10 AM at the Four Season’s Hotel and Angelina Jolie saunters into the room wearing a snug leather jacket and black leather pants. Looking like a million bucks (and then some), I can’t help but notice the huge rock on her finger while she’s busy polishing off the last of her peanut M&M’s.

Intimidated beyond belief, I didn’t ask if the diamond was an indicator of another marriage (she was hitched for a nanosecond to actor and Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller). Later I find out that the ring is actually her mother’s - former actress Marcheline Bertrand - who, in addition to her father Jon Voight, was a major force in her choice to enter a life on screen. Originally, she wanted to be a funeral director. "There's something about death that is comforting," she told one reporter. "The thought you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now."

However morbid that thought may be for the rest of us, for Angelina it’s helped seal her position as one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. She’s been in the above mentioned Hackers (1995), Foxfire (1996) and also starred with David Duchovny and recent beau Timothy Hutton in Playing God (1997). But it was her riveting portrayal of a supermodel heroin addict in the HBO movie Gia that really got our attention. Sexy, sultry and very dangerous – Angelina finally hit it big.

Now she’s starring opposite Winona Ryder in the gutsy Girl, Interrupted which focuses on a young woman (Winona’s character Susanna Kaysen) who finds herself at a mental institution in the late 1960s for troubled young women. To nobody’s surprise – Angelina plays one of those troubled ladies, the uber tough Lisa, a seductive sociopath in search of her own demons.

Popping the last M&M into her mouth like a pill and lounging in the chair like a panther, Angelina’s ready to talk. Hold on to your shirt – here’s how it went;

BBB: Are you attracted to roles that are dangerous?
Angelina: The wild side? I generally think we want to tell stories about people that go through something or are covered by something. So to me, they need to go through some sort of transition. I seem to reach out to those characters who are reaching out for the other person. That’s a common thread. I have trouble being very simple. That’s why The Bone Collector was so hard for me [laughs] but I think what’s freeing is being honest. I tend to find that in my films – I’m trying to break through to the person next to me.

BBB: Was there ever a time when you found yourself a bit insane?
Angelina: I remember being very upset that I wasn’t. I wanted to be on stage and think I was somebody else. And I wanted my mind to take me away, somehow it was going but I was very present. There’s that madness where you want to go insane. Now I’m wondering the same thing.

BBB: Why now?
Angelina: I’m beginning to think that everybody’s insane. I started to think, "Am I too impulsive?" Like with my character Lisa...why is it okay to lock her up? I’m finding out that that’s not how people think. There’s enough people that think she’s fine and that they need to break out too.

BBB: Was it difficult growing up being Jon Voight’s daughter?
Angelina: It wasn’t difficult. He wasn’t like a dad. He was this man I knew. He was a very complicated man and he always meant well and I always wanted to love him, but we both attacked each other because we both thought we were right about everything. We’d debate anything. But I love that. That’s why I question everything. But I don’t have a bad relationship with my dad. He wasn’t there a lot, so I became strong for my mom.

BBB: You’ve been portrayed as some sort of rebel girl. True?
Angelina: I think there’s a stereotype of what that actually is. I don’t think that people really know what it is. If I fight a producer, I think he just needs to relax and not be scared of something new. I actually like people’s rebellion against me.

BBB: As Lisa, did you have trouble relating with the other characters?

Angelina: Winona would say that she wasn’t feeling well or that she had a tough day because she had a headache...and I was like, "I can’t know that as Lisa." I needed to not feel things. I needed to not feel like we were all together. I needed to feel nothing. I really understand Lisa, but she’s more scared than me. She needs to have people accept her right now, or she’ll get fuckin’ angry and attack them.

BBB: What’s up next for you?
Angelina: "Gone in 60 Seconds" is a remake of a B movie and it has all boys in it so that was fun. I also get to go under a car and get all greasy.

[ As the interview ends, she signs a few photos for me and begins to walk out the door… ]

BBB: I have to make a confession – I think I have a major crush on you.
Angelina: [Turns around] Well, I think you’re kinda cute!

[ Long dramatic pause as Angelina exits and Betty passes out.]