Gia is a 1998 HBO television film about the life of model Gia Marie Carangi starring Angelina Jolie, Mercedes Ruehl, Faye Dunaway and Elizabeth Mitchell. It was directed by Michael Cristofer and written by Cristofer and Jay McInerney. The original music score was composed by Terence Blanchard.
Gia Carangi is a Philadelphia native who moves to New York City to become a fashion model and immediately catches the attention of powerful agent Wilhelmina Cooper. Gia's attitude, beauty and willingness to pose nude help her rise quickly to the forefront of the modelling industry, but her persistent loneliness drives her to experiment with mood-altering drugs like heroin. She becomes entangled in a passionate affair with Linda, a make-up artist. However, after a while Linda begins to worry about Gia's drug use and gives Gia an ultimatum, with Gia choosing the drugs. Failed attempts at reconciliation with Linda and with her mother Kathleen Carangi drive Gia to begin abusing heroin. Although she is eventually able to break her drug habit after much effort, she has already contracted HIV from a needle containing infected blood and dies of complications from AIDS in 1986 at the age of 26.
