Do you know the saying "Some guys have all the luck" ? Well I'll be honest here: yes, some of us have.

Because today, we had the chance to have a chat with the one and only Lara Croft, archeologist, adventurer and all-round babe (I think the pictures speak for themselves). But to her friends and family Lara is better known as Jill de Jong. In 2002 EIDOS, the publisher of the Lara Croft series, chose Jill as their perfect Lara look-alike. In real life Jill is a full time professional supermodel who travels the world doing photoshoots.

The direct cause for this 'meet-and-greet' is the upcoming release of the sixth Lara Croft Tomb Raider title: the Angel of Darkness. I'm not going to bore you with details on the game except that it looks very worthwhile - watch out for our review shortly. Let's cut through the chase... Along with Sam and Arno - two of the finest collegue gaming journalists in Belgium from Console.be - we were lead into a hotelroom where 'Lara' was eagerly awaiting our questions :)

In 1997, When Jill was 15, she unexpectedly won a moddeling contest. From then on things took a turn for the better and after finishing school, she persued a career as a model. And as you can tell by the pictures... she's in high demand ;) Which reminds me, some of these pictures were kindly provided to us by Console.be. I suggest you visit them for even more pictures (!!!) and their report of the event (dutch article).

"I guess I really do have some things in common with Lara Croft other than my looks. I'm quite adventurous, enterprising and I do love my independence. Oh yes, and I also paint, as does Lara." But that's not all, just like the character she represents, Jill loves to keep herself up to speed with the latest technology: "I just love miniature gadgets like my small mp3 player, my small digital camera and of course my minicamcorder - I even edit my own small movies !".

But this babe doesn't really play games: "No, I honestly don't have the time. And when I do have some time off, I prefer hanging out with friends and spending quality time with my family." "And besides that, I'm way too creative and hyperkinetic. After all, I did always want to become a clown when I was little. I'm always fiddling around with stuff, right now I'm learning the guitar. I've just mastered "Ol' MacDonald had a farm" (smiles). But games ? Nah, you can't really be creative while playing games."

In her more quiet moments Jill likes to write poetry, short stories and lettres to friends. "I try to write as amusing as possible. A little satire or a 'tongue-in-cheeck' makes a letter or a story so much nicer to read. If I hadn't become a model, I would probably be a journalist now." Well, I would like to swap with her for a day ... or a couple of years :)

A collegue from a french magazine asked if she was jealous of Angelina Jolies role of lara Croft in the movie: "No, absolutely not. I believe they are two different projects. And let's be honest here, the game is much bigger and more important than the movie."
I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, our time was up and Jill had to undergo her metaphormosis from Lara Croft back to Jill de Jong. "It takes me about 10 minutes and a nice shower to go from Lara to Jill, but it takes me more than an hour to transform to Lara. But I really like her, she has a really cool image."

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- Expect a cool Lara Croft "inhouse" movie in a couple of days !
- Thanks again to Sam & Arno from Console.be for the use of some of their pictures !

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