The children were also asked to pretend they had been caught and had to come up with a lie.
Jolie refuted online criticism suggesting that the auditions were exploitative or cruel.
The suggestion that real money was taken from a child during an audition is false and upsetting.
Credit: Roland Neveu/Netflix
I would be outraged myself if this had happened.
Vanity Fairdid not immediately respond to request for comment.
Read it in full below.
The casting was done in the most sensitive way possible.
The children were from different backgrounds.
Some were underprivileged; others were not.
The production team followed the families preferences and the NGO organizations guidelines.
Some of the auditions took place on the NGOs premises.
Ahead of the screen tests, the casting crew showed the children the camera and the sound recording material.
The children were not tricked or entrapped, as some have suggested.
They understood very well that this was acting, and make believe.
They were accompanied on set by their parents, other relatives or tutors.
Time was set aside for them to study and play.
