Changeling (film) Changeling (film) Changeling is a 2008 American mystery crime drama film directed, produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by J. Michael Straczynski, that explores child endangerment, female disempowerment, political corruption, mistreatment of mental health patients, and the repercussions of violence. The script was based on real-life events, specifically the 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop Murders in Mira Loma, California. The film stars Angelina Jolie as a woman reunited with a boy whom she immediately realizes is not her missing son. When she tries to demonstrate this to the police and city authorities, she is vilified as delusional, labeled as
Angelina Jolie criticism and accusations of blackface. The resulting performance was widely praised; Ray Bennett of "The Hollywood Reporter" described it as "well-measured and moving," played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent." She received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Jolie also played a shape-shifting seductress, Grendel's mother, in the epic "Beowulf" (2007), created through motion capture. The film was critically and commercially well received, taking in revenues of $196.4 million worldwide. By 2008, Jolie was considered the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, earning $15–$20 million per film. While other actresses had been